Elena in the Country of Memories
by C4rd of Sp4de
Summary: Alice had left Wonderland once and for all, and with Wonderland in a weakened state, a mysterious shadow has cloaked the land. Centuries after her game, a new game begins, but now it's different and the player has already been set. Will she be able to fix Wonderland? Perhaps. Will she stay or will she leave? She never wanted to be here in the first place. . . OCx?
1. This is What I Want

_Disclaimer__: I do not own Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice and its canon characters and ideas.  
Claimer: I do own this story, which includes plot and characters never introduced in __Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice_

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**Chapter 1 - This is What I Want**

The sun rose above the horizon, signaling the start of a new day. Elena Thorne moaned softly in annoyance as the sunlight slipped through the window and veiled her closed eyes. Lazily, her eyes fluttered half-way open, revealing them to be a deep blue color, as she slowly sat up and stretched, the ends of her straight black hair just barely touching the bed. By now, she could hear the engines of the cars from down below the large window to her side, which only aroused more annoyance from the girl. Slowly, she slipped out of her bed, slightly wincing at the cold tile floor meeting the tips of her toes, and tip-toed over to the large white curtains draped over the window. She reached out her small hands to push the curtains away and allow the sunlight to pour into the room, warming her pale body just a bit. Looking down, she saw multitudes of cars of different brands and colors traveling down towards one way while only a few would travel on the opposite direction. She trudged back to her white bed and position herself so that her back would be propped against the metal headboard, pulling the covers up to her waist and squirming a bit to get herself comfortable. Reaching over to the lone nightstand, beside her and opposite to the window, she opened the drawer and pulled out a book titled _Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_ by Mark Twain.

"Miss Thorne, it's time for breakfast and your medicine," a lady's kind voice spoke through the door in the far corner. Sighing to herself, Elena marked her page and set the book down beside her lap as the door clicked open. The lady, dressed in white complete with a white cap, entered through the door, holding a tray of food across her free forearm. The tray had a bowl of rice, sunny-side up on the side, and apple slices in a separate bowl. In the corner of the tray were two small pills and a glass of water.

Elena nodded and took the tray from the lady's arm and placed it on her lap. "Thank you," she replied in monotone, her voice quite hoarse and small. She took the spoon and fork and began slicing the egg and mixing it with her rice.

"Your father will come to visit you today with his wife," the lady informed her. Elena froze and her grip tightened on the silverware as her eyes narrowed into dangerous slits and her lips twitched together tightly, but it was gone before anyone could notice as her facial expression returned to one of indifference once again.

"Thank you for telling me," she replied. The lady nodded and left the room, leaving Elena in silence to eat her breakfast.

~_Time Skip_~

A few hours have passed since then and Elena had passed the time by reading her book. The sun was now high in the sky and blazing down below. A knock on the door broke the silence abruptly, making her jump a bit. As she heard the door click open, Elena sighed in a tired manner, closing her eyes and rubbing her temples.

"Here she is, Mister and Missus Thorne," the same lady from this morning said as she led two people into the room and beside Elena's bed.

The one who was claimed to be Mister Thorne was a tall and slim man, with light brown hair that looked fine even though it was messy as if he had just gotten out of bed, and light brown eyes. He wore a tanned business suit, clean and clear of a single wrinkle. There was a woman right next to him, clinging onto his arm, her head coming a bit above his shoulders. She had curly, sunny blonde hair that reached to her mid-back, and large, baby blue eyes. She had a tight and skimpy red dress on with a glittery black purse slung onto her shoulder and black high heels.

"Oh, is she alright?" Missus Thorne's shrill voice cried out, making Elena cringe at the annoyance of it. Elena saw that the woman had a hand over her gaping mouth and she didn't bother to stop herself from rolling her eyes.

_'Just another one of that man's whores who got an upgrade,'_ she scoffed in her mind, returning her attention to her book.

"Elena, we're here to take you outside today," Mister Thorne's smooth and deep voice spoke as he gazed at Elena, slightly angered that she would rather read a book than speak to him. "Go and get yourself ready," he said.

Sighing in annoyance, Elena put her book down and stood to get her clothes and get ready.

~Scene Change~

Elena paid no attention to Mister and Missus Thorne as she read her book, sitting comfortably in a black leather chair at the end of a sleek black limousine. She wore a loose black shirt with the ends tied as a ribbon to the side, a flowing white skirt that came to her knees, and a pair of white-with-black-tips flats with short black socks inside.

"Oh, we're going to have so much fun today!" Missus Thorne exclaimed, clasping her hands together in excitement. Elena took a moment to glance at her, noting how she stayed away from her and constantly brushed up against Mister Thorne, pushing her chest against his arm, clinging to him as if he were her savior. Elena merely rolled her eyes and returned to her book, already knowing that Missus Thorn didn't want her here by her horrible acting.

"How are your studies going, Elena?" Mister Thorne turned to her and questioned.

"Hmm. . .good," she hummed, not bothering to look up from her book. She only peeked over the edge of her book when the car slowed to stop and the driver opened the door.

"We're here, sir," the driver informed with a bow.

"Thank you, Jones," Mister Thorne responded, stepping out of the limousine, taking Missus Thorne's hand. Elena got out last and looked out at the scene before her. It was a large white mansion built in the style of Victorian-era architect with grand Greek-styled pillars holding up the second floor. An enormous marble fountain was at the center of the front yard, surrounded by red roses. "Here we are, Elena, the Henderson Manor. You remember Douglass Henderson, right?" he asked her as they made their way down the brick walkway and to the front doors.

_'Douglass Henderson. . .' _Elena thought, remembering the last name from the news. "It sounds familiar, I'll say that," she shrugged in reply.

Mister Thorne gave a tired sigh as they reached the front door, giving a sturdy knock on the fine oak wood. "Well, hopefully, you'll be able to remember when you see him." Two maids opened the door and bowed.

"Welcome, Sir Thorne," they both greeted, Mister Thorne nodding in greeting.

"Please get my daughter ready for the dinner tonight," he ordered them. They nodded and moved to stand beside Elena.

"Miss Elena, please follow us," the replied at the same time. Gripping her book and sighing in annoyance and tiredness, Elena just knew this was going to be a long evening.

~_Time Skip (Evening)~_

Elena ate the food in front of her in silence, trying to drown out the sound of the boring talks happening around the finely clothed dinner table. The room was grand indeed with tall windows with marble pillars between, behind Elena's red velvet chair, a black-and-white marble floor that held the pattern of a geometric flower, enormous, dark oak double doors lined with gold to Elena's right and left, and a grand, diamond chandelier that hung high above the center of the table. The dining table was just as extravagant, with fine silverware, china with intricate patterns, golden vases with roses, and colorful and delectable cuisines from around the world. None of it interested Elena however, for she'd much rather stay in her simple room at the hospital and read her books.

"I apologize for Elena's lack of response, but she is quite shy around others," she heard Mister Thorne to her left. She finally looked up from her food, but only slightly, taking in the family that sat across from her for the first time since coming here. The one directly across from Mister Thorne was a rather short and stubby, middle-aged man with white hair that was combed back, a white beard, and light blue eyes. The one all the way to her left, across from Missus Thorne, was a woman around the same age as the man before, her wrinkles clearly showing that. She had dark brown hair that was tied into a high up and dark brown eyes. Now the man across from her looked to be roughly around her age, only a few years older at most, and he had a lighter shade of brown hair than the lady, slightly wavy and layered, but the exact same shade of eyes as her, and though he looked tall, he was rather lanky as well. _'So this is the Henderson family, huh,'_ Elena concluded.

"It's a shame how she must stay in a hospital," the middle-aged man, Mister Henderson, commented, looking over to see her quietly eating her food.

"Yes, it is quite unfortunate that we do not get to spend as much time with her as I wish," Mister Thorne commented. Elena bit her fork hard to prevent herself from saying a sarcastic comment about that.

"Tell me, Miss Elena, what do you like to do?" the lady across the table, Missus Henderson, asked.

Elena blinked, crafting the best possible answer in her head. "Reading. . ." she whispered as she stared at her food, so low that everyone had to strain a bit to hear.

"Well, it's nice that young women such as yourself would rather focus on educating themselves than wildly running around, partying like savage beasts," said Missus Henderson. She sent an expectant look towards her son that didn't go unnoticed by Elena as she peeked up at her. She heard a chair scratching against the tiled floor and she looked up to see that Douglass Henderson had stood up. He walked around the table to stand on her right side and offered his arm to her. "Shall we take a stroll around the gardens so that we may get to know each other?" he asked her with a friendly smile. Elena glanced at Mister Thorne, who slightly nodded in her direction. She suppressed a sigh and stood up, looping her arm around Douglass'.

"Yes, that would be quite lovely," she spoke a full sentence for the first time since coming into the mansion. She forced herself not to flinch when she felt Douglass' other arm go around her waist in an attempt to help her up.

"Do not worry, Mister Thorne. I will be sure to take care of her," Douglass assured him before leading her out to the back gardens.

~Scene Change~

The rose garden was absolutely beautiful to say the least. Finely trimmed hedges and trees to create geometrical figures, though there were figures such as dancers, Greek Gods, and majestic beasts, freshly cut grass around the grey stone pathway, and bright roses of all different sizes and colors with no arrangement to colors. There was even a grand fountain built with tanned-colored marble. It was like a maze where little kids could easily get distracted and lost in, but most adults would be able to see over the hedges.

"Isn't it lovely, Miss Elena? This garden is one of my mother's prides and joys, second to only me of course," Douglass said first after a long moment of silence, as he led her through the winding cobblestone pathways.

"Yes, very beautiful, Mister Douglass," she responded, though in a monotone voice.

"Ah, just Douglass is fine. In fact, my friends call me 'Doug'," he chuckled, yet it seemed as if he were hesitating.

_'He's nervous about this whole ordeal,' _Elena concluded in her mind. "Very well then, Doug it is. You may call me Elena if you wish."

"Yes, Elena, a very nice name for a pleasant young lady, no?" he smiled down at her. There was an awkward moment of silence between the two, Doug trying his best to keep a conversation. "Well. . . Uh. . ." Elena raised a brow as he cleared his throat nervously. "Do you think a year is enough to get to know each other? I mean, they expect us to marry on your seventeenth birthday and. . . umm. . . it's a bit sudden, isn't it? I mean, making a friend in a year is easy, but to marry someone you know nothing about, especially their personality, whether they're bad or not. No, wait! That's not what I meant! I'm sure you're a very lovely and nice young lady, Elena, it's just that I don't know you that well so I don't know if you would be a good wife. Hold on! Forget what I just said! What I meant was that-" Doug immediately stopped as he saw Elena raise her hand as a signal to actually stop.

"Its fine, Doug. Really, it is," she assured him. Once they got closer to the fountain, Elena moved to sit on the ledge and run her fingertips across the clear water's surface.

"So, you have no problems with this arrangement?" Doug asked her, moving to sit beside her, watching her fingers before looking at her.

The corners of Elena's mouth twitched downward for not even a mere second. "No. In fact, I would like to be married to you as soon as possible," she answered, her voice holding the tiniest hints of sadness if one were to listen _very _carefully.

"Eh, really?" Doug blushed a bit as he began to nervously laugh, scratching the back of his neck and looking anywhere but at Elena. "Well, it's good that I made such a first impression I guess."

Elena crossed her arms and legs, moving her head to look straight into Doug's eyes. "No Doug, that's not why I want to marry you. What I want is the potential power I could get with the name of 'Henderson'," she bluntly said in a serious tone, which was slightly deeper than her monotone voice and a bit less hoarse as well.

Doug stopped his hand and lowered it down, turning his head to meet Elena's gaze. "Wh-what?" he sputtered out in surprise, his eyes widening to match his tone.

Elena nodded. "You heard correctly. I want that power, and the sooner, the better."

"Is that all you think of this whole ordeal?" he whispered out, clenching his hands into tight fists that started to shake a little, evidently getting angry.

Elena nodded again, not at all fazed by his sudden mood swing. "Yes, with the name of 'Henderson' as my own, I will be free to rise in wealth, power, and status in society itself. And when I do so, I won't be remembered as 'Elena Thorne, daughter of the Thorne family.' No, I will be remembered as 'Elena Henderson, wife of Douglass Henderson of the Henderson family'." Elena paused, taking a second to think. "Right now, I will give you a choice. If you want, I will break off this engagement and you will never have to worry about any of this, or we get married in a year. However, if you choose to marry me, I will have you know that I will most likely not come to love you even in the year we will spend together, so you will most likely be entering a loveless marriage with me," she said, uncrossing her legs and folding her hands over her lap.

"But my family needs this arrangement," Doug said, looking down at the ground as if in shame.

"Yes, I've read the newspapers that your family's banks have lost hundreds in millions this year because of the economy, and if this keeps up, then all that your father has worked for will be for naught," she supplied.

Doug blinked and looked at her. "Why do you want my last name to achieve your goal?" he questioned. "Why me?" he quietly whispered, but Elena caught him.

"As I've said before, I don't want to be remembered as 'Elena Thorne', but as someone else instead, which in this case would be 'Elena Henderson' should you accept. Besides, you're the most suitable candidate with your family's current status. If I were to marry someone else whose family was comfortably fine, then I wouldn't be able to do much to rise to the top and no one will notice what I do," she said with a nod.

With a heavy sigh, Doug slowly nodded. "All right, I accept this engagement," he said, though almost hesitating to do so, raising his head to glance back at Elena.

Elena nodded for the final time and stood. "Very well then. We should get back now before they start to worry," she said, returning back to her monotone voice, lifting her arm up for Doug to take it. He stood back up, and looping his arm around hers, he led them back into the mansion.

~_Time Skip (1 year)_~  
~Scene Change (Cathedral - Bride's Room)~

Elena sat in front of the large mirror on the dresser, intensely staring down at her hands, which were folded on top of her long veil, which was on top of the dresser. She raised her head to look at herself. The maids had put on a little bit of light blue eye shadow to bring out her eyes, the outer locks of her black hair loosely tied to pony tail behind her, held up by a silk, white ribbon where the ends were long enough to meet the ends of her hair, a bit of powder on her normally pale face to make it glow a little, and her lips outlined in pale red lipstick. She looked down at her wedding gown, white and designed for a fairy tale princess. The chest was styled like a corset that hugged her chest, and while the outer layer was a plain, pure white, the inner layer, which showed under the strings at the front, was an abstract floral pattern in gray and white. The skirt was fanned out around her and split into two different layers. The first layer was a part of the corset and was outlined in shining diamonds and the front side, which stopped at around her mid-thigh, swooped down to the back end that barely touched the floor, whereas the second layer flowed like a smooth waterfall down to the ground, then ends held up by white roses and ribbons. The dress had loose sleeves the stopped at her elbows and was see-through except for the white floral patterns. As beautiful as she was, it did nothing to help the slight frown evident on Elena's face.

Elena slightly jumped as she heard someone outside knock on the door. "Mistress, may I come in," a woman's voice asked. Elena knew it was the caretaker, Amelia Baker, Mister Thorne had hired her ever since she moved into the Henderson Manor for the past year. Sighing, she slightly nodded, even though no one could see it.

"Yes, you may Amelia," she called out. Elena watched as the door creaked open, and tall, young lady with red hair that was tied up in a bun, light blue eyes, and a formal, yet plain silk white dress enter into the room, bowing before walking over to where Elena sat. She held a small white box tied with a see-through white ribbon. "Is that for me?" Elena asked as Amelia placed the box in front of her. With Amelia's nod, Elena pulled at one of the ribbon's ends and lifted the top cover of the box, revealing a silver necklace with a rose pendant that had a small diamond carved into the shape of a heart at the center, snuggled in a red velvet cushioning.

"It's a present from Master and Milady Henderson. They hope that you will wear it during the ceremony," Amelia informed. Elena slightly gripped the necklace's chain, making a split second decision in her mind. "I will help you put it on." She moved to take the necklace, but stopped and leaned back when Elena abruptly stood.

"I'm going outside. I need some time to think," she hastily said, placing the necklace back into the box before rushing out of the room, despite her caretaker's calls.

~Scene Change (Outside)~

Elena lifted up her skirt and kicked off her silver high heels, taking in the feel of soft, wet grass as she walked towards the lake and woods that were behind the cathedral. "This is a lot more nerve wracking than I thought," she whispered to herself with a tired sigh. She kept on walking until she got to the water's edge, careful not to get the dress wet. Elena stopped and leaned against the thick trunk of a tree, already feeling tired. _'I feel like crying now. . .Why? Isn't this what I want?'_ she questioned in her mind, yawning a bit. She leaned back and shifted slightly to get into a comfortable position on the trunk. She didn't know why, but for some reason, Elena felt as if something, or someone, was forcing her to sleep. Not that she minded all that much, for she could use a good rest as she felt her chest tighten whenever she thought of her wedding. "I guess it doesn't matter. . ." she whispered to herself, her eyes fluttering close. "This is what I want anyway," she finished in just barely a whisper, before drifting off.

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**A/N - So this is the first chapter to kind of ease you into the story. I know it's a common story here where an OC is placed into Wonderland, so I wanted to try and create my OC, Elena, as my own. Well, I hope you liked reading it. Leave a review if you noticed something wrong in my grammar, what you liked about this chapter and what you didn't like so that I may improve, and/or if you want to. Thanks for reading!**


	2. A Faint Shiver

_Disclaimer__: I do not own Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice and its canon characters and ideas.  
Claimer: I do own this story, which includes plot and characters never introduced in __Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice_

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**Chapter 2 - A Faint Shiver**

~**POV Change (Elena/1st Person)**~

I feel strange, like I'm falling. . . Almost flying even. . .

I open my eyes and found this strange sensation to be true. I really am falling down, but I'm falling slowly somehow. I look around and see abstract items rotating around, some falling faster while others seemed like they just floated there. Cards of different suits, clocks of different sizes, tea sets of different designs, masks of different expressions, and even roses of different colors. They are all falling with me down what seemed to me a black hole.

Am I dreaming? I have to be. Something like this is just too bizarre to really happen. All I have to do is close my eyes and sooner or later, I'll wake up.

Soon enough, I feel a warm sensation filling me up.

~**POV Change (3rd Person)**~  
~Scene Change (Heart Castle)~

Vivaldi sat in her extravagant throne, yelling out an order to behead a maid. She froze mid-sentence and stood abruptly from her throne, eyes wide in bewilderment, perhaps a bit in fear as well. A strong shiver chilled her spine to the core and rippled through her whole body. Vivaldi wasn't sure what had caused such an action, but the unspoken message it gave had given her the feeling that something is changing drastically and had brought about foredoomed news. She turned to her soldiers and shouted orders at them to go and investigate, clearing everyone out of the throne room. Vivaldi sunk back into her throne and let out a shaky sigh as the feeling of uneasiness never left her.

Peter White was walking through one of the long corridors of the castle, looking through paperwork, until he felt the same foreboding chill. The force was enough to make him freeze in his tracks and stay there as his mind tried to sort out the reasons of why it had happened. He could only see one conclusion and walked over to a nearby window that overlooked Wonderland, and set his gaze to the top of Clover Tower.

Ace was strolling through the gardens, humming to himself, until he as well felt that dreaded shiver, causing him to stop. His smile melted into a angry frown and his eyes changed into dangerous slits as his hand instinctively went to the hilt of his sword and tightened his grip around it. He didn't know what that feeling was, but it was clear that he didn't like it one bit. Making up his mind, he turned on his heel and swiftly walked in the other direction towards the exit. He was going to find out what had caused the feeling and kill it off.

~Scene Change (Hatter Mansion)~

Blood Dupre sat at his desk in his office and was signing through his paperwork as usual, but he abruptly stopped as he felt that awful chill. He noticed the sudden silence that took a hold of the mansion. His indifferent expression soon turned angry and suspicious as he reached out and grabbed his cane, turning it into his infamous machine gun, and quickly walked out of the room.

Elliot March was out in front of the gates, arguing with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum yet again about them not doing their jobs and such. The only thing that stopped them was the distressing shiver that was strong enough to force the three of them to straighten their backs as the chill went through their whole bodies. They changed into their serious and suspicious modes as Elliot gripped the handle of his gun and carefully scanned through the tree lines that surrounded the mansion, the twins doing the same, except with their axes.

~Scene Change (Amusement Park)~

Mary Gowland was calmly walking through his park, greeting the faceless families with smiles and making sure that the rides were running smoothly. He was in front of the haunted house entrance, but he froze as he felt the god forsaken chill. He whipped around and pulled out his shotgun, preparing himself if anything were to attack him. Nothing was around him and the park seemed to be completely abandoned and silent from his perspective. Not wanting to take second chances, he cautiously began to walk back towards his office.

Boris Airay was climbing up a tree, until he felt that miserable shiver ripple within his body in an abnormal way. He fell down to the ground and onto his back with a grunt. He slowly stood, carefully observing the area around him and walking on. He ignored the slight pain in his back from the fall, for the dreaded feeling that shiver made was all he could think about.

Pierce Villiers was hiding somewhere in the Amusement Park, away from Boris, but his fears were replaced by the woeful chill course through his being. He began to shiver uncontrollably now, clutching himself tighter, as if to protect himself from whatever new was frightening him. He wished Boris was with him right now, for Pierce would rather have him chase him throughout the park then deal with this in-explainable feeling by himself.

~Scene Change (Clover Tower)~

Julius Monrey sat at his desk, fixing the clocks as usual with amazing speed and grace. However, he stopped when he felt that agonizing shiver, dropping all materials in his hand, not even reacting as they clattered on the desk. Silence passed for a few more seconds, and Julius unconsciously quickly stood and began to rush out the room and up the stairs, as if his feet had a mind of their own. Before he could realize what he was doing, the doorway to the top of the tower slammed open, to reveal nothing out of the ordinary. Shaking his head with an angered sigh, he closed the door and quietly made his way back down, but the feeling the shiver left was stuck in his mind.

Gray Ringmarc was walking up another set of stairs with a stack of paperwork in his arms, until he halted all body movements, that torturous chill striking his body. Out of instinct, he quickly moved in a defensive position with knives in both his hands, ignoring the paperwork that swayed down to the floor. Gray stayed like that, his eyes watching for the tiniest bit of movement. Until he was certain nobody, or nothing, was around him, he slowly began to pick up the fallen papers, still rigid from the lingering feeling of that chill.

Nightmare Gottschalk was at his desk doing his paperwork, until he as well felt that anguish shiver. He abruptly stood and ran over to the nearest window that overlooked Wonderland. He closed his eyes and took a peek at everyone's mind, seeing as how they all felt that shiver that stopped them at the exact same time. His mind couldn't come up with an exact explanation except for something that doesn't belong is in Wonderland, as if they had forced their way through. Something big is going to happen, and from the impression that shiver left on everyone, it most likely wasn't going to be a good change. His eyes landed on the circus and they slightly narrowed. The Joker was the only mind in Wonderland that he could feel had not been affected by the shiver. Did he just ignore it, or was he the cause of it? Nightmare realized it could go either way, so he just walked away from the window and plopped down on his bed, quickly falling asleep. If he was thinking what he was thinking, then something is indeed terribly wrong.

~Scene Change (Forest)~

Elena awoke with a jolt and quickly wrapped her arms around herself as she shivered uncontrollably. It was freezing! How is that so when it was already in the middle of summer?! She looked around and saw that she was in the middle of a thick forest where was snow covering everything, at night, alone. "Wh-where am I?!" she fearfully panicked, her chattering teeth making it hard for her to speak out a sentence. She quickly stood, only to trip over something and fall face first into the snow. Sitting up and looking down at herself, and from the moon's light, she could make out that she was still in her wedding gown and barefoot. What really scared her was when she saw that her feet were beginning to turn blue from the freezing temperatures. Elena got up again and began running as fast she could, desperately hoping to find a house or lodge of some sort to warm her up before she froze to death. Already, she could feel the chills seeping through her skin and freezing her to the bone.

After a few more minutes of running, Elena could feel her heart beginning to hammer against her rib cage at an abnormally high rate. Her breathing turned into short, desperate gasps for air and she fell to the ground, clutching her chest in pain. Her vision began to blur and she tried to pick herself off the snow. What she saw was a checkered, red-and-black skirt with bells at the end over long red pants and pointed black shoes tied with red string. Though what really struck her was the white mask tied around the person's waist, which was in the same style as the ones that fell down the hole. This was the last thing her mind could process before she succumbed to the darkness.

~Scene Change (Bedroom)~

Elena's eyes squinted open as they had trouble adjusting to the bright lights. During this time, Elena quickly scanned the room a plain white room with a black dresser next to the black door in the corner, and a black desk across from her with a lamp. She cautiously sat up and looked down at herself, shocked to see what she was wearing. No longer was the heavy, overly white wedding gown on her, now she had a long-sleeved, silk nightgown that looked to reach to about her knees, with black ties at the ends of the sleeves and another around her waist and a black collar with a small white bow. She was about to leave the bed, until her hand landed on something cold and silky. Elena looked over and saw that it was her wedding gown, neatly folded beside her.

She jumped when she heard the black door creak open and two people came in. They looked to be twins with the same tall height, deep red locks with two strands that framed their face, and a single ruby eye as the other was covered by an eye patch. The first to come had a black jester's hat outline in gold and he wore a gray jacket with black cuffs, gold string, and a white, abstract floral pattern on the side, over a gray undershirt, a large, golden ringlets necklace with a red-tied cloth. Elena recognized the black-and-red checkered skirt-with-bells he wore and the white mask and roses to the hip, over long red pants and pointed shoes tied with red string. The second one had a black hat on with a simple gold symbol where the visor connected with the hat, and he wore a black coat outlined in gray with small, golden rings on the shoulders, over a gray t-shirt with a black tie that had a gold diamond design, black pants, and knee-high black boots. Elena saw the same red roses and white mask on his deep red belt that held very many different keys of different kinds.

"Finally the b*tch is awake," the second twin growled out with a scowl. Elena internally flinched at the tone and lightly glared at the man for speaking to her in such a way.

"Now Joker, be nice," the one with the jester's hat chided to the second. He walked over to Elena and sat on the bedside. "How are you feeling, my sweet?" he asked with concern. As Elena turned her attention to the first, her glare receded and she looked at him with suspicious curiosity.

"I'm feeling fine." It was a lie. Elena could still feel her heart racing at the sight of the two strangers in front of her. She didn't know if she could trust them or not, and with them obviously stronger, outnumbering her, and very close, she wouldn't be able to stand a chance if they decided to do something to her. "You're the one who found me in the snow, right?" she cautiously asked, afraid to step on any land mines at this point.

The jester nodded. "Yes. We found you out cold in the snow so we took you here. Don't worry about your clothes, I had one of the female clowns dress you whilst we were away," he assured her.

"Wait, where is 'here'? And what do you mean by 'clowns'?" she asked him with a raised brow.

"Well, as you can tell, I'm dressed like a clown myself," the jester gestured to his clothes and Elena nodded in understanding. "I run the circus here in Wonderland, as my counterpart, Joker," he gestured to the rude man earlier, who was leaning against the drawers to the side, "runs the prison. As of right now, my sweet, you are in one of the bedrooms in the prison," he answered.

"Wait, I'm in jail?" Elena asked in disbelief. "Was I trespassing onto your territory?" Elena could feel her heart rate starting to pick up from the shock and possible tortures to come.

"If you were a f*cking prisoner, we wouldn't give a d*mn if you had passed out or not. Instead, I would've just hauled you into a f*cking cell and locked you up," the rude one explained with a slight frown of annoyance. It could only do so much to calm Elena, as she realized that they could be lying to her. Suddenly, Elena remembered something that the jester had said to her earlier.

"Excuse me, but where is this 'Wonderland' and what do you mean by your 'counterpart'?" Elena asked again.

The jester opened his mouth, about to answer, until a knock on the door caught all their attentions. "That must be the tea. Joker, could you get that?" he asked dismissively, before turning his attention back to Elena. He began to explain to her all about Wonderland and who they were as Joker grunted and straightened up, stepping outside.

~Scene Change (Prison Hall)~

"The tea for the girl is ready, Master Joker," said the faceless clown holding the silver tray that held a plain, tall teapot, a single silver teacup on a small silver plate, and a small silver spoon for mixing. Before Joker took it, one of his hands slipped into his coat and pulled out a transparent, light blue vial shaped as a hexagonal prism, with a light blue stopper shaped as a heart that had a smaller heart carved into the center. He unscrewed the stopper and filled the teacup with what seemed to be water from the vial before screwing it back on and placing it back inside his coat. He took the teapot and poured in some hot tea into the cup until it was a good amount. Placing it down, he took the spoon and began to mix the "water" and tea together until they melted into a translucent orange color. Joker then took the tray and walked back into the room.

~Scene Change (Bedroom)~

Elena sat on the bed , slightly hunched over and staring down at her lap with a hand wrapped around her chin while the other held the elbow of that hand. The jester, or the other half of the Joker apparently, had finished explaining everything to her and let her sit in silence to contemplate and process the information. "_It has to be fake, a dream. Everything this 'Joker' said is unrealistic, impracticable, nonsensical_," the thought kept repeating in her mind over and over again. Her attention was brought back to the door as the warden Joker stepped in with a silver tea set. He handed the tray to the jester Joker, who placed the tray on top of night stand beside the table and handed Elena the teacup.

"Here, this should help you calm your mind, my sweet," he said.

"I'm not 'your sweet'," Elena quietly whispered to herself that even she couldn't hear it, noticing that the jester Joker would only call her that. Then again, she had never told them her name, so she couldn't say anything. She stared at the tea, picking up the cup and inspecting it the substance inside. "Is this supposed to be black tea?" she asked, recognizing the color.

"Homemade," was all the jester Joker said.

Elena was about to drink it, the cup a few centimeters away from her lips, until something caught her eye and she lowered the cup back down. "Did you mix something into it? The spoon is wet," she clarified. More than that, she noticed that the liquid that dripped off the spoon was nothing like the "black tea" in the cup. It was as clear as water, or at least what she hoped was water.

"Are you going to drink the f*cking tea or not?" the warden Joker snapped at her, clearly getting impatient. It seemed to Elena that they wouldn't let her leave until she drank their "tea". As she lifted the cup to her mouth, her heart began to pound, fearing that she would be knocked out only to awaken in a torture cell, or the tea was poisoned and would either kill her slowly or make her drop dead the instant it reached her stomach. The moment she tasted the tea was something she wasn't expecting. It didn't taste like the black tea she was used to, but it was very sweet and warm with a hint of strawberries and vanilla to the aftertaste. By the time she was halfway done with her cup, she began to feel drowsiness take over and she lowered the teacup back down to her lap. The jester Joker gently placed his large hands over hers and guided the teacup back to her mouth and had her drink the remainder of the tea.

"If you don't drink all of it, then it won't help," the jester Joker said, but it sounded too far away for Elena to make it out clearly, for she was too sleepy. She could barely register him taking the teacup away to put it back on the tray, turning back to her and tucking her into the sheets. Elena's eyes were closed and she began to drift asleep. The jester Joker leaned down to her ear and softly whispered "Sleep well, my sweet," before standing up and walking out of the room with his counterpart. The last thing Elena could feel was a faint shiver that traveled down her being, but she was far too tired to make anything out of it. Snuggling into the covers, Elena ascended into a deep slumber.

* * *

**A/N - School is a b*tch, so updates will be slow. Now Elena is in Wonderland and everyone has an inkling that she's there, or something's there at least. Just so you know, Elena won't be distinguishing both Jokers as "Black" or "White" as they were Alice's nicknames for them and not their real names. Also, I won't be using the Japanese honoraries, but their english counterparts, because I think it's quite tacky to do so in an English-speaking story. **

**Please l****eave a review if you noticed something wrong in my grammar, your thoughts about this chapter and story so far, and/or if you noticed that the characters were OOC. By the way, I love playing with words, so if you notice something in the text/story, leave a review and show everyone your findings. Cookies, cake, candies, sweets, and all to you for noticing as well. Thanks for reading!**


	3. A Useless Mafia

_Disclaimer__: I do not own Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice and its canon characters and ideas.  
Claimer: I do own this story, which includes plot and characters never introduced in __Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice_

* * *

**Chapter 3 - A Useless Mafia**

~**POV Change (Elena/First Person)**~  
~Scene Change (Elena's Dreams)~

I feel like. . . nothing, nothing at all. Is this good or bad? Is this right or wrong? I don't know, it just feels like nothing. I open my eyes to find myself in the darkness, apparently floating. Am I falling back down the hole? No, I feel nothing passing me. Am I in a void? Hmm, most likely. A series of light chimes ring through the air softly. _Ding, dang, dong. . . Ding, dang, dong. . . Dong, ding, dang. . . Dong, dang, ding. . ._ The sequence continued over and over. It was soothing, very predictable.

The chimes begin to grow softer and slower until I'm unsure whether I am actually hearing them or they're just echoing in my mind. Far away, I hear thunder and the rushing pitter-patter of rain, signaling a heavy storm somewhere, but I don't know where. However, a kind and smooth voice of a woman begins to speak, drowning out the noise of the storm. I couldn't understand what she was saying though, because her words seemed to mesh together, making her sound like Charlie Brown's teacher from the old animation cartoon of the Peanuts. Still, her voice is so soothing like a child's lullaby that I begin to feel my eyes drop.

~Scene Change (Bedroom)~

My eyelids lazily flutter open and I'm forced to face reality again. I want to go back to my pleasant dreams once more. I can't seem to remember, for the more I dwell on it, the farther away it gets. Groaning, I reluctantly sit up on the bed and small knock from the door brings me out of my thoughts and I look over at the door.

"May I come in, miss?" a petite and quite hesitant voice calls out through the other side. I recognized the voice as the one who had brought me the tea when I woke up from passing out. I tell her that she may, and the moment she stepped through the door, I had to choke back a gasp of shock. The jester wasn't joking when he said most everyone was faceless. Well, not exactly faceless as I could see, but eyeless. "Is something wrong miss?" the female clown called out after moments of silence. I quickly placed my hands on my lap and composed myself.

"No, I'm sorry to have worried you," I answer with a shake of my head, my voice and face soon turning back to the indifference I once held back when I wasn't in this "Wonderland". Inside, I felt a bit of sympathy towards the girl. What must it be like to live a life without any true purpose? Only more so to be constantly reminded of it as they look in the mirror and see the faces of their owners, these "Role Holders"?

The girl nodded and came forward to place a neatly folded pile of clothes beside my lap. "Master Joker wishes for you to put this on and come outside. I will be waiting outside the door once you are finished," she bowed deeply and left the room in silence. I stood from the bed, and reached over to the clothing she had placed beside me, unfolding it and holding it above my head to look at it.

It was quite adorable to say the least. It was a deep red color with slightly puffy shoulders and the rest of the sleeves were black-and-white stripped horizontally, all the way down to her wrist, a white folded collar with a salmon-colored tie that had little white ruffles, and a white wrapping at the waist to tie the ribbon at the back. The skirt part had two layers, the top layer was the same red color as the torso that stopped as just above the knees and there were little white polka-dots that grew bigger towards the bottom until the tip of the skirt was all white. The second layer was a white skirt that ended just below the knees with thin, golden lining and small ruffles underneath. I place the dress back down and look at what else the girl had brought. A pair of knee-high stockings that were white with thin lines of black diamonds and a pair of strap-on shoes that looked to be for children, girls in particular, except the strap was black, attached to the shoes with a golden button, and the tip and bottom of the shoes, whilst the rest was white. I begin to undress myself and slip into the clothing. It felt of a smooth, soft fabric that snuggled into my skin, keeping me warm in this cold temperature. Looking down at myself, I can only imagine that I look like a little girl in these types of clothes. Oh well, it was nice to wear, so I'm not complaining. I turn to the door and followed the girl from before outside.

~**POV Change (Third Person)**~  
~Scene Change (Circus)~

Elena looked around the area that the girl had brought her with mild interest. It looked to be a theater of sorts, with a pristine, light brown stage that had an abstract purple pattern in the center, a set of white stairs in the back that led to a higher stage, though it was covered in red velvet curtains, yellow curtains tied to the side of the stage, and plush red chairs outlined in gold-colored metal. Her attention shifted to the back of the stage where she saw the red curtains shift a little before the jester Joker came out with a disapproving frown on his face. However, the moment his eyes set on Elena, his frown dispersed and was replaced by a polite smile, which Elena could tell was out of obligations and not free will. Walking over to her, he opened his mouth to speak until. . .

"Finally the b*tch is awake," he muttered. Elena looked at him in surprise then shifted her eyes around, looking for the source of the voice. She knew it could not be the jester Joker since it sounded too much like the warden Joker. "Down here b*tch," he muttered again and Elena looked down to see the jester's white mask moving it's lips into a smirk. The jester was quick to cover the mask with his hands.

"Sorry about him, my sweet," the jester apologized with a small chuckle. Elena just shrugged, as if already accepting the warden's foul mouth and bad temperament. She heard a muffled response from the mask, but with the jester's hands in the way, it only came out as a suppressed grunt to Elena's ears. "Ah, I see that you're wearing the clothes we've gotten for you?" he asks, noticing her attire now.

Elena briefly nodded and did a little curtsy out of thanks. "Yes, thank you," she replied in a clipped tone. She made a note in the back of her head to repay the Jokers for what they've done for her thus far. "I presume this is the circus that you have mentioned," she said, giving the place a quick look around. The jester nodded and, from what Elena could perceive, his smile grew just the tiniest bit and seemed to reach his eye in a simple spark.

"Would you like a tour around?" he asked her with the tiniest bit of actual enthusiasm.

"Yes, if it's not too much trouble." If the jester seemed happy to give her a tour, it would be rude of her to turn down the offer, especially since they've done so much.

The jester led her around inside the tent, explaining everything that went on and such, then led her off to the other tents where they kept the animals. Finally, he showed her the outside, and Elena's eyes widened in the slightest. Everywhere there were small stalls, like the ones one expected to find in a festival. She saw families everywhere, children weaving their way through the crowded walkways running around in play, even couples taking a stroll on this fine, cold morning. Though they were all faceless, Elena could see their happiness in their smiles and postures. The jester led her through the stalls until he stopped at the edge of the circus grounds. Elena could see a small town in the distance with a red, heart-themed castle behind it, a rather large amusement park, a tall green tower that had clovers, and what seemed to be the rooftop of a mansion hidden away in the forest to her. From what the jester had told her the night before, she knew that the castle was known as Heart Castle, the amusement park as, well just the Amusement Park, the tower was Clover Tower, and the mansion was known as Hatter Mansion.

"As you can see, this is Wonderland," the jester introduced with a dramatic wave of his arm.

"Okay, now how do I get back?" Elena asked in annoyance after she got over her small shock of the place. If this was all of Wonderland, then it was pretty small. And who lives in a castle and tower that looked to be from fairy tales? The jester could only chuckle at her unexpected response. He had thought that she would at least be in awe of being in a new and different place. That she would have felt a wave of excitement for being away from her presumed boring life. She looked over as he saw him shuffle through one of his pockets and taking out a prism-shaped blue vial with a heart stopper.

"This vial, the 'Medicine of Hearts', should do the trick," he told her, taking her hand and pressing the vial into her palm, moving his hand under hers to closer her fingers around it. "See the small amount of liquid inside?" Elena nodded as she peered into the vial. "Fill the vial with the liquid and you can drink it to go home," he said with a smile.

"And how do I fill it up with this 'liquid', pray tell?" Elena asked with slight sarcasm in her voice. Drink some unknown content to get home? What a laughable joke.

"Just whore yourself to the every Role Holders, like the previous foreigner," the warden spoke from the mask and Elena could hear the amusement in his voice. Elena slightly glared at the mask.

"I believe not," she sternly responded. "For your information, I am not so desperate to escape if that is the only way, as I for one am not a wh-" Elena abruptly stopped herself. By definition, whores are people who sell their bodies for money. Would Elena be considered as such, considering that she was just about to enter a loveless marriage, practically selling herself in order to rise higher in society and power? The more she thought about it, the more she found out how much she detested that word.

"Is something wrong, my sweet?" the jester's voice had startled her out of her train of thoughts. She glanced at the vial, then back to him as she placed the vial into one of the pockets.

"I'd like to go around Wonderland, if you don't mind," she requested. Perhaps she can find another way out if she looked around close enough.

"Certainly," the jester smiled. "But as it is right now, I have a show to prepare for and I'm certain my counterpart is not going to enjoy showing you around," he began to mumble when he got to the part speaking about the warden. "I'll go and get you an escort, so please wait here," and with that, the jester left. Elena looked out at the forest. It'd be best to search the forest first before nightfall, though from what she had learned from the jester, time is rather random in Wonderland.

~Scene Change (Forest)~

Elena made her way through the forest, observing everything with her keen eyes.

"Miss, I don't think we should be here. . ." the feminine voice trailed off. Elena turned her head behind her so she could see the source of the voice. It was the same girl as the one from earlier, except she no longer wore her clown outfit. Instead, she had on light pink pea coat with black buttons, a gray woolen skirt that reached her knees, black stockings, and furry white boots that reached mid-calf. Without the clown cap on her head, Elena could see that she had curly, shoulder-length brown hair.

"Do you know who put these signs on the trees?" Elena asked instead, glancing around all the multiple signs on each tree. It didn't seem that way when she entered the forest, but the deeper she got, the more signs there were.

"They've been here for so long, so I don't know. . ." again, she trailed off in hesitance. Quietly sighing to herself, Elena continued on her way through the forest.

"The jester Joker told me that this territory belongs to the 'Hatter Family'. What are they?" she asked, remembering the rooftop she had seen hidden away behind the trees.

"They're the mafia of Wonderland. . ." Elena could hear the trembling in her voice. Even though it shouldn't, the thought of meeting the mafia gave her slight hope. Mafias are known for their underworld dealings, but more importantly, their knowledge of knowing the darkest secrets about the world around them and more. If she can manage to negotiate with them, then they can give her a way out.

"By the way, what's your name?" Elena realized that she'd never gotten the girl's name.

"Erm, I don't have one. . ." again, she trailed off.

"Then why don't you try making yourself a name? Names are important you know. They identify who you are," Elena nodded in confirmation.

"Well, what's your name, Miss? I'd hate to call you 'Miss' without a proper name. . ." Elena thought for a moment. Should she give the girl her real name, who could then give it to the Jokers? No, it'd be too risky. It's obvious that she was going to be here for a while, so she might as well be truthful, at least a bit.

"Elena," she answered.

"Just that? But don't people with eyes usually have a surname as well?" the girl questioned.

"Not all the time." If she was going to be here for a while, she might as well be a new person while she's at it. Elena looked ahead and saw that the signs were becoming less and less the more she traveled. The two of them continued walking onward until they came upon a white mansion with a tall black gate surrounding it, closed. Elena noticed two boys sitting at the gate's entrance. They looked to be twins, except for the fact that one was donned in blue while the other was in red, even their eyes. The had on stripped military jackets with black outlining and a black belt, and a golden chain from one of the buttons to the epaulets on their right shoulder. All over the jacket were the card suits of a french deck, a green clover, yellow diamond, red heart, and blue spade. They had on black shorts with knee-high, stripped socks of their respective colors and black shoes meant for young boys. Their short black hair was covered by a rather puffy military cap. What gave Elena a fright were the large axes they held, which also had the same card suits as engraved in the metal as their clothing.

"Hey, who's over there, brother?" the blue one asked as they both lifted their heads to see Elena and the girl approaching them. Their eyes seemed to lit up some as they looked at the two girls.

"Does it matter brother?" the red one asked back in a cheerful voice, both of them moving to stand up. "They're both trespassers, and you know what we do to trespassers. . ."

"We kill them," the blue one finished. The girl took a step back in fear, shaking behind Elena. However, Elena stood her ground, her fists clenching and relaxing and her breath getting heavier to calm herself down.

"We assure you that we're not here to trespass. We just wish to speak to the person in charge," Elena declared, stepping forward with a strong stride and looking between the two twins.

"The pretty lady wants to talk to boss," the blue one said, the both of them looking at Elena with slight curiosity. Most people would begin begging for their lives and try to run away, but not her.

"But you're on our grounds, so therefore, you both are trespassing," the red one assured.

"What the hell are you brats doing?!" a deep voice yelled out from within the gates. Everyone looked towards the source and a new man walked into the scene. He was quite tall, probably as tall as the Jokers, and he had violet eyes with shoulder-length, wavy golden hair. He wore a long black coat with blue buttons and purple outlining. He had a long, plaid purple scarf around his shoulders, many golden belts around his waist and even one being fashioned as a sash, even loose bandages around his right arm. On the same side, Elena could see the handle of what seemed to be a golden pistol on his right hip and a golden pendant with the Jolly Roger insignia, but the skull was replaced with what seemed to be a rabbit. What struck Elena as strange were the brown rabbit ears on his head.

"Excuse me, but can you-" Elena stopped herself as she saw the man stride forward, taking his pistol from his holster. Before she could react, the man already had the cold barrel pressed up against her temple.

"It doesn't matter anyway. It'll give me a chance to test out my new gun," he said dismissively, pressing his finger against the trigger.

"M-Miss Elena!" the girl cried out, shaking behind her.

The man turned his head towards her, as if noticing her for the first time. "And what business does a faceless have here?" he asked with slight hostility in his voice, his eyes narrowing in on her. The girl seemed to be too shaken up to even answer, trying to hide herself more by cowering behind Elena.

"I believe I was talking to you, sir. Don't you know that it's rude to ignore a lady when she's talking to you?" Elena snapped at him in annoyance, getting his attention away from the girl.

"Why you-" his hold on the gun tightened and he was about to pull the trigger.

"The pretty lady's right! You can't just ignore her!" the blue one cried out, forcing him to stop in his tracks.

"Yeah, stupid chickie rabbit!" the red one agreed.

"You brats shut it!" the man yelled, pulling his gun away from Elena's head and rounding on the twins. As they began to argue, Elena could feel her eye twitch in the slightest from their loud, annoying voices. She walked forward in dainty stomps to stop their useless argument.

"And you two, don't you know not to interrupt people when they're trying to have a conversation?" she snapped at them as well, moving her glare to look at all three of them. All was silent until the lone, rough clapping of an individual off to the side. Everyone looked over and saw yet another man walks forward. He had a white vest lined in faint peach and a long coat of the same color and style. The buttons were the same as the card suits on the twins' axes and were even on his cuffs, the clover and heart on his left cuff whereas the diamond and spade were on his right. He had on long white boots that went about an inch above his knee over his black slacks. Around his neck was a large, dark green bow tie that seemed too out-of-proportion from the rest of his clothes. As he moved towards the rabbit man, she saw that they were roughly the same height. He had bright aquatic eyes and atop his shoulder-length, deep black hair was a top hat fashioned out with roses and cards on the visor and the same card suits circling the top. In his hand, he held a a medium-length black cane with a diamond top and a miniature version of his own hat donning that diamond.

"The young lady is quite right, it is rude to ignore and interrupt someone during a conversation," said the man, Blood, in a smooth voice as he walked towards Elena, ignoring the other three. "I apologize for my three subordinates," he said with a slight bow once he stopped in front of her. "My name is Blood Dupre, head of the Hatter family." He reached out and lifted a few strands of her hair into his gloved hand, bringing it up to his lips and placing a light kiss on it. "May I know your name?" he purred out.

Elena's face made a small frown as she watched Blood with keen eyes. This man was obviously the boss in the prideful and domineering way he held himself and how the other three looked at him with respect and also a bit of fear. However, he also seemed to be quite the player and not like the gentleman he seemingly tried to be. "My name is Elena. As I take it, you are the head of the mafia here in Wonderland." Blood gave a small nod at this. "I wish to discuss matters about Wonderland that someone of your position will most likely know," Elena finished strongly.

Blood smiled, but it seemed more like a smirk in Elena's opinion, as he straightened his back. "Yes, of course," he agreed. "But it's getting rather late, so why not join me for tea?" he invited. Elena glanced up at the sky and saw that the sun was already behind the trees. Hmm, it seems that the jester was right about the random time changes.

Elena slowly nodded at the oddity of his request. Who invites a complete stranger into their home for something as trivial as tea? It was suspicious and shady to say the least, but it was probably the best chance she's got so far. Besides, if she were to decline, it's possible that she and her companion may be shot dead. She saw Blood's smile, or smirk really, grow wider at her acceptance. Lightly grasping the trembling girl's hand, Elena followed the group into the mansion.

~Scene Change (Hatter Mansion)~

"The pretty lady should sit next to us!" the blue boy urged Elena, grabbing onto her free arm and tugging her into his direction.

"Yeah, she should be with us!" the red one agreed with the same enthusiasm, grabbing onto Elena's opposite arm and pulling her forward as well. However, the nameless girl still kept a tight hold on Elena's hand, afraid of being alone.

"Hey, you two! Don't bother Blood's guest!" the rabbit man turned to glare at the two, grasping Elena's shoulder and pulling her away from the two. Elena's eyes slightly narrowed at the man before returning back to normal, noticing how he recognized her as the only guest and not her faceless companion. With a final glare at the twins, he turned to face Elena with a warm smile. "Sorry about them, I know they're annoying. My name is Elliot by the way," the man, now known as Elliot, greeted with a friendly smile that seemed to hold neither ill-intent or malice.

"Perverted rabbit, stop trying to steal the pretty lady's attention!" the two twins yelled out in sync, running up to Elena's side. They turned their attention back towards Elena with childish smiles of amusement.

"My name's Tweedle Dee!" the blue one introduced.

"And I'm Tweedle Dum!" the red one exclaimed, coming up to the opposite side of Dee. "The pretty lady should sit next to us, right brother?" he asked, looking expectantly at Dee.

"Yep! And away from the chickie rabbit!" Dum agreed. Before the Tweedle twins and Elliot could start arguing, Elena pulled herself away from their hands and led herself and her faceless companion to the other side of the long diner table where the mafia had seated themselves.

"Young lady, I insist you sit with us," Blood tried to persuade as Elena and the girl seated themselves.

"If we're going to talk, than I much prefer to look straight at who I'm conversing with rather than turn my head," was all Elena answered. Blood reluctantly agreed to let them sit across as he clasped his hands for the food and tea to be brought out. The setting was like any other garden tea party Elena had attended. Outside with tea and side dishes of various desserts. Looking over the dishes, Elena noticed how they were laid out. Any carrot related dishes went over to Elliot, who sat to Blood's right, the sweeter of the desserts went to the Tweedle twins, who were on Blood's left, and the blander, but still delectable, dishes were in front of Blood. It was even in the tea as Elena could see how Blood had unsweetened black tea whereas the other three had asked the servants to add at least a little sugar. Another thing Elena noted as she watched the servants and maids move about were that their uniforms were an imitation to Blood's outfit, which Elena found odd, albeit narcissistic and a tad bit creepy.

"Before we start discussing what you came here for, who is she?" Blood asked, looking at the faceless girl who had taken a seat beside Elena. The mafia turned their attention to the girl, whose gazes were less then favorable compared to when they looked at Elena, and Elena could see the girl begin to visibly shake.

"'She' has a name and it's-" Elena began, only to be cut off by the girl.

"A-Amy!" she sputtered out on the spur of the moment before hanging her head down in embarrassment and shame. Elena only nodded in confirmation and acceptance, turning back to the group before her.

"-and Amy here is my friend," she continued for Amy. "If you wish to ask a question about her, don't come to me and ignore her completely. Just because she doesn't hold as much power as Role Holders does not mean that she doesn't exist," Elena bluntly said in a calm tone, angered by the fact that they've treated Amy so far like one typically treat air. Everyone was stunned to silence as they stared at Elena, shocked by her level of bluntness and how she had treated the matter at hand.

Blood, still keeping up with his poker face, looked at Elena with a raised brow and asked, "So you know who the Role Holders are?"

Elena only nodded. "I know that they are the people with actual eyes and the ones that hold the most power here in Wonderland," she answered.

"How much do you know about Wonderland exactly?" Blood inquired.

"I know that there are four other territories than here. Clover Tower, Heart Castle, the Amusement Park and Joker Circus. Currently, this place is at a territorial struggle with both Heart Castle and the Amusement Park whilst Clover Tower is the only neutral territory. I'm not sure where that puts the Joker Circus, so I assume they are neutral as well." The jester never did tell Elena whether or not they were a part of the territorial struggle, so it was only her assumption.

"Wow, the pretty lady sure knows a lot," Dee hummed into his teacup, Dum nodding in agreement.

"How do you know all of this?" Elliot joined in the conversation with a question of his own.

"Two men who go by the name of 'Joker'. They've allowed me to stay with them until I am able to find my way out." At the mention of this, Dee and Dum did a spit take with their tea, Elliot began to choke and cough on the piece of carrot cake he was eating, Blood gripped the handle of his teacup so hard that Elena could barely see that hand slightly vibrate, and even Amy paled and tried to sink into her seat in order to disappear. Elena could sense the calm mood suddenly drop as she to stopped drinking her tea and set the cup down on the table, taking in everyone's reaction.

"The Joker!?" Elliot exclaimed, growling out the name. "You can't possibly stay with them!"

"Young lady, you are more than welcome to stay here at the Hatter mansion," Blood said in all seriousness, dropping his poker face for a moment.

"I've not come here to discuss my lodging here in Wonderland," Elena spoke with finality. "I'm here to ask you a question which I'm sure you know the answer to." The sun was beginning to set as far as she can tell, so she wanted to get back to the reason she came here in the first place then leave immediately.

Blood sighed and his impassive mask returned to him. "Yes, you did say that before. Very well, what is your question?"

"I'd like to know how to leave Wonderland. The jester gave me a vial which he called the 'Medicine of Hearts' and told me that if I wanted to leave I had to fill it up and drink it, which all sounds improbable to say the least. As the mafia, I'm sure you know the ins and outs of Wonderland, so my question to you is this; is there another way to leave?" she inquired though there was more of a demanding tone in her voice.

With a sigh, Blood set his teacup down and looked at Elena. "What the Joker has told you is correct. The only way to leave Wonderland is to fill up that vial and drink it," he admitted. Elena opened her mouth to speak, but he held a hand to stop her before she can start. "And yes, we may be the mafia here in Wonderland and have a reputation for knowing what others try to hide, but I assure you, this is what we know."

With a sigh, Elena set her teacup down and stood from her seat, realizing that she had just wasted her time and had gotten nowhere. "We thank you for your time and this tea party, Mister Dupre, but it is getting late and we should be getting back to the circus now, right Amy?" Amy squeaked and stood up, running over to Elena's side.

"Yes I'll have Elliot escort you back to the circus." Elliot stood at the sound of his name, walking over to where the two girls were. Elena, seeing as how Blood was going to take no for an answer, only nodded in silent acceptance.

"Come back soon, pretty lady!" Dee yelled at them as they walked away.

"Yeah, we'll show you our collection and play together next time!" Dum shouted. Elena only turned the upper half of her body back and gave a small wave of goodbye.

~Scene Change (Forest)~

It was already dark as Elena and Amy made their way back to the circus with Elliot as an escort. They were silent for the most part until Elliot decided to break the ice.

"Are you sure you want to stay with Joker, Elena?" He looked to be thinking for a moment. "Is it alright for me to call you 'Elena'? I heard you say that when Blood asked you for your name, but if you want me to call you something else, like by your surname or something, I will."

"No, it's fine," Elena calmed his worries. "And yes, I'll be staying with the Jokers for the time being as well. Why is everyone so weird with that name? You all seemed. . ." she paused, trying to find the right word. "Hostile towards even the mention of that name."

"Erm, it's just that. . ." Elliot sighed, deciding to tell the truth. "The Joker is a terrible person Elena. He may not seem like it right now, well maybe the warden side of him, but he's just bad news. He will torture you, treat you as a child's toy, physically, mentally and even emotionally, if you give him the slightest chance," he growled out, clenching his fists hard by his side.

"Hmm. . . perhaps," Elena hummed out with a small shrug of her shoulders, not at all disturbed by what she was hearing.

Elliot nodded vigorously, oblivious to Elena's voice and motions. "That's why you should leave them-" he abruptly stopped when Elena held a hand to silence him.

"What is your full name?" she suddenly demanded.

"It's Elliot March," he answered slowly, unsure of where she was taking the conversation with the random question.

"Very well then, Mister March," she politely addressed him. "I will say that I do not trust the Jokers just yet and that they may very well have the ability to do what you have just described to me." Elliot opened his mouth to speak, but Elena stopped him by saying, "But I will have you know this. I have no grounds to judge a person personally without knowing them first hand. I may hear rumors and gossip, but that is all. I will not base anyone just on the talk of others," officially closing the subject and Elliot could only solemnly nod in silence at the authority in her voice.

They all continued to walk to the edge of the forest, where the circus was in clear view, but stopped when Elliot's hand shot out and gripped onto Elena's forearm. He was still until he was sure Elena was focused on him. "Listen, if things don't go well here or something goes wrong, like Blood said, you're more then welcomed to stay with us at the Hatter Mansion," he softly told her. He only smiled with a good nod of his head as Elena raised a brow in suspicion and confusion before letting her go and turning back and starting towards the mansion. Elena only sighed tiredly and continued to walk back to the circus with Amy right behind her.

~Scene Change (Circus)~

"Ah, you're back!" the jester Joker greeted them as they entered the tent. Walking in, Elena could see that they've just finished their last show as nearly everyone else had exited the tent and the crew was cleaning the stage. "So, how was your tour of Wonderland?" he asked once he was a few good feet away.

"We've only been to Hatter Mansion because they invited us in for tea," Elena answered.

"Oh, and how did it go?" he inquired.

"I'll be honest, I went there to ask them a question on how to leave Wonderland since your explanation was quite doubtful," Before he could even ask onward, Elena had begun to speak to answer his question. "They were quite rude and hostile at first, but turned out to be nicer. . . once their boss turned up. I was able to ask them my question, but they gave me the same answer. So all-in-all, I just wasted my time with a useless mafia." Elena paused for a moment. "It's been a long day, so I'm going to be retiring for the night. Goodnight Joker." Elena walked past the jester to get to her room.

"Goodnight my sweet," the jester called back. He gestured for Amy to follow him, walking away in the other direction.

* * *

**A/N - About 6,200 words and I'm finally done. I apologize for this slow update because as I've said before, school is being a real b*tch to me right now, plus I also had a bit of a writer's block whilst I was writing this. Since I've just entered my Spring Break, I'm hoping to update more frequently now. By the way, I've changed the name of the story from _All She Never Wanted_ to _Elena in the Country of Memories_ because it seems to fit more.**

**Please l****eave a review if you noticed something wrong in my grammar, your thoughts about this chapter and story so far, and/or if you noticed that the characters were OOC. By the way, I love playing with words, so if you notice something in the text/story, leave a review and show everyone your findings. Cookies, cake, candies, chocolates, and all to you for noticing as well. Thanks for reading!**


	4. Shadow Man

_Disclaimer__: I do not own Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice and its canon characters and ideas.  
Claimer: I do own this story, which includes plot and characters never introduced in __Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice_

* * *

**Chapter 4 - Shadow Man**

~Scene Change (Elena's Dreams)~

It was the same dream Elena had the last night. One of a thunderous storm raging on, but a woman's motherly voice drowned out the sound to mere droplets of an after shower. Before, Elena's vision was shrouded by the shadows and she couldn't make out the words, but now was different. Now she sat in a enormous, dark oak wood, Victorian-styled study with a fireplace in front of her, already crackling with warm fire and the only source of light within the room, filled with expensive knick-knacks and trinkets on the top. Looking around, she saw that the walls were bookshelves filled with hundreds of individual books, behind her and across from the fireplace were a set of large windows that were being pounded on outside by the heavy downpour, off to the side of the room was a huge business desk with a lavish chair behind, and between her and the fireplace was a glass coffee table with freshly brewed tea still steaming. From the smell, Elena concluded that it was sweetened Earl Grey tea. Elena could feel herself already seated and gently rocking back and forth in a steady rhythm, obviously on a rocking chair. No longer did the woman's voice sound so far away, but not it sounded as if her words resonated within Elena's mind instead of echoing around the study walls.

"_An aged count once lived in Switzerland, who had an only son, but he was stupid, and could learn nothing_," the voice began. As the story narration continued, Elena immediately recognized it as "The Three Languages" from _Grimms' Fairy Tales, _by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. It was a story of the old count of Switzerland who sends his stupid son to learn with a master. The first year, the son learns the language of the dogs. The second year, the son learns the language of the birds. By the third year, the son learns the language of the frogs. Long story short, the son gets disowned by his father, goes off into the forest, and from the three languages he learned, the son saves his own life, becomes rich, and is even elected as the next Pope in the end. It was quite the story in Elena's opinion as it showed that everything one learns is valuable in their life.

As the story ended, the scene begin to slowly morph. The shadows caused by the fire and lightning begin to grow, creeping slowly upon all that lay in its path. It melted up on the walls and windows, muffling all and any sound. Elena felt herself grow sleepy and slouched in the rocking chair. The last thing she could process were the shadows devouring the study against the light and the strong smell of the Earl Grey tea wafting through the entire room.

~Scene Change (Elena's Bedroom)~

Elena's eyes lazily fluttered open to a squint, but she made no move to actually get up. It was another strange dream, the second one since she's come to Wonderland. The more she thought about it, the further away the dream slipped from her mind. A soft knock resounded on the other side of the door and Elena merely turned her eyes to glance at it, already knowing that it was Amy by the hesitant knock.

"Miss Elena?" Amy came in with the same outfit as yesterday when they went out, carrying a tray of food, which consisted of egg, toast and a bagel with cream cheese. Elena sat up as Amy came forward, taking the tray out of her hands and placing it on her lap. Inwardly, Elena grimaced at the scene, which reminded her of being in the hospital again.

"Where are we going today?" Elena asked, munching on the toast.

Amy just shrugged. "Master Joker said anywhere as long as we stay out of trouble." Elena looked up from her food for a second, noticing how Amy seemed to be less hesitant now and more relaxed and casual.

Elena glanced at her plate, then to Amy, seeing as how her head was slightly inclined towards the food. "Aren't you going to eat?"

Amy jumped, an obvious sign that she was caught red-handed, and shook her head furiously. "N-No! It's y-y-your f-food after all and-" she stopped her stuttering when Elena silently placed the bagel in her lap. Amy head shot up to look at her in surprise, but Elena was just eating her food at a relaxed pace, staring at the tray in deep thought. Amy took that as a sign and took the bagel with both hands, lifting it to her mouth. "Thank you," she quietly said with a soft smile, proceeding to take little bites. The two of them ate in a comfortable silence.

~Scene Change (Wonderland Town)~

Elena and Amy decided to spend the day around the town as relaxation. To Elena, the town seemed like those stereotypical, fairy tale towns where everyone is happy, the buildings are cute and simple and there are small shops for everything. Either way, it was a very nice place to live in, but she still wanted to go back to her own world.

"Do you wish to get something, Miss Elena? Master Joker said that you can buy whatever you want," Amy said as they walked around the small shops, Elena peering into each window. She stayed silent until an item inside a store caught her interest.

"Can we go in there?" she asked. Amy nodded and the two of them headed off inside. It was a small store that sold bags and accessories for girls. Elena weaved through the people inside until she came upon a rack in the window corner. She picked up a brown, over-the-shoulder bag styled like a clock with the cloth strap designed like a chain.

"Oh, that's a cute bag! I bet it would match your dress perfectly!" Amy squealed. She took a second identical bag and held it against Elena's dress, nodding in satisfaction. "Yep, it's perfect! Why don't we get this one?" Elena softly chuckled at Amy's enthusiasm. It was strange for her to be shopping with an actual companion, or outside at all. Glancing at the price tag, Elena placed the bag back on the rack with a quiet sigh.

"It's nice but it's a too expensive," she said with a bit of dejection.

Amy's brows furrowed together. "But Master Joker said that he'll pay for whatever you want to get."

Elena just shrugged. "I appreciate Joker doing that for me, but they've done so much for me. I'll find a way to pay them back. . ." she trailed off, staring out the window as something caught her eye.

"Miss Elena?" Amy asked, following her line of sight out the window, but was confused when nothing of interest showed up. "Is something the matter?" she asked again, turning her attention back to Elena. She quickly moved back as Elena hurriedly left the store and followed whatever held her attention. "Miss Elena!" she shouted, chasing after her.

Elena swiftly turned the corner and stopped, Amy stopping herself centimeters behind to prevent barreling into her. "It really is you guys," she said with a tiny bit a surprise. In front of them stood the entire Hatter family, who seemed surprised and even a bit shocked that the girls were there.

"Big sister!" Dee and Dum yelled at the same time, running over to Elena and hugging her, clinging to her waist.

"And look brother, it's Amy!" Dee said, lifting his head up and looking at her.

"Yep! Hi Amy!" Dum greeted, but with a bit less enthusiasm then before, or that's what it sounded like to Elena.

"Young ladies, it's nice to see you two again," Blood greeted, walking over to the. Elena inwardly smiled, hearing Blood greet the both of them and not just her.

"Hello again, Mister Dupre," Amy greeted back politely whilst Elena nodded at him.

"Hey Elena, Amy, glad to see you two okay," Elliot said happily, walking over to them with a smile on his face. "Hey, Joker hasn't tried anything yet, has he?" he lowered his voice and asked.

Shaking her head, Elena answered with a tiniest bit of annoyance, "No, they haven't. It's nice to see you as well, Mister March." Elena couldn't blame the man for his hostility toward the Jokers however. Most people would be wary of others who had a bad reputation or rumors following them.

Elliot, not noticing the tone hidden in her voice, just smiled and laughed a bit. "That's good to know. Hey, you know you don't have to keep calling me 'Mister March', right? I'm perfectly fine with you calling me 'Elliot'," he said.

"But I'm not fine with it," Elena ended the conversation. "So, where are you guys heading? I highly doubt you're walking through town on a whim," she suspiciously eyed Blood, who smirked.

"You're right, we're going to the amusement park for business," Blood said with a deep chuckle.

"The amusement park?" Elena thought for a moment. "Ah, that's right, you're in a territorial dispute with them," she said in thought and Blood nodded in affirmation.

"Big sister and Amy should come with us!" Dee said excitedly.

"Yeah, and then we'll introduce you to Mr. Kitty!" Dum finished, nodding to his brother.

"'Mr. Kitty'?" Elena looked questioningly at Amy.

"Boris Airay, the Cheshire Cat of the Amusement Park," Amy told her. She leaned over and whispered into Elena's ear, "The amusement park is great and all, but once the Hatters arrive, it becomes a shootout. Literally."

"Right," Elena whispered back with a nod of her head, then turned her attention back to the others. "Thanks, but we'll pass," she said, pulling herself away from Dee and Dum. "Amy and I just wanted to spend the day here in the town, just walking around and sight seeing I guess," she shrugged. Dee and Dum pouted at her answer. "But please, don't let my decision keep you from going. It's obvious that you have some business there to attend to."

Blood nodded and tipped his hat of to the two girls. "Very well then ladies, we hope to see you soon," he said before turning around and leaving.

"Bye Elena. Bye Amy," Elliot said, jogging a bit until he stepped into pace with Blood.

"Bye big sister and Amy, come visit us some time," the twins said, giving a final squeezing hug around Elena and running off to meet Blood and Elliot.

The two of them waved back and stood there in silence until Amy sighed in relief and let her shoulders slump, saying "Whew, that was a close one."

"Is going to the amusement park with the Hatters all that bad? What if they didn't have a shootout this time?" Elena asked with a raised brow.

Amy shook her head. "Nope, there is and always will be a shootout with those Role Holders," she sighed dejectedly.

Elena just shrugged. "Oh well, we'll just swing by the amusement park some other day."

"Yeah, that sounds like a better idea. Hey, why don't we try going into that store!" Amy said excitedly, running to the store and squealing once she looked through the window. Elena softly smiled and lightly jogged to catch up with her.

~_Time Change (Late Evening)_~

Elena and Amy were in the outskirts of town, away from most people and very close to Clover Tower. Amy glanced up at the sky and frowned. "Oh, it's nearly night time," she observed.

"Are you kidding me?" Elena muttered in annoyance under her breath, her question not directed to anyone. "It's only been at most an hour since we ran into the Hatter."

"Well, time changes randomly here in Wonderland," Amy supplied.

"Well, it seems like inconvenience for everyone at its finest." Elena looked around and saw everyone rushing to get inside, all the lights in every building turning on as the time quickly changed to night.

Amy began to shake as it grew darker, even with the street lights on. "M-miss E-Elena, maybe we sh-should go n-n-now. . ." she shakily murmured taking tentative steps closer to her and gripping onto the back of her clothes.

"Yeah, it's getting dark pretty fast already," Elena said, looking at Amy with concern. She turned her gaze forward and slightly frowned at the sight of a drunken man stumbling into a dark alleyway. "Besides, if a shootout can happen in daytime at a place like an amusement park, maybe Wonderland isn't as 'wonderful' as it sounds," she murmured as an afterthought. Taking Amy's hand into hers, the two of them were only able to walk forward a few steps, until a bloodcurdling scream echoed out of that same alleyway. At the same time, the shadows seemed to recede back further into the alleyway, allowing the light to pass through. "What the. . .?" Elena's brows furrowed as she watched the shadows move in an unnatural way.

"M-m-miss E-Elena. . ." Amy murmured, trying to tug Elena back. Not a second after, the same man stumbled out again, but he was clearly different now. He looked like a complete shadow man himself, wearing nothing except the darkness!

"H-Hey, are you a-alright?" Elena tried to keep her voice calm and unwavering, letting go of Amy's hand and hesitantly stepping towards the man.

"Miss Elena, no. . ." Amy whispered out, horrified.

"Hey, a-are you able t-to answer me?" Elena came to only a few feet from the man and began to reach a hand out, but right before she could place her hand, the man's head snapped upward. Elena choked back a gasp, quickly pulling her hand away and taking a step back. The only color on the man was his shining white eyes that seemed to glare scorching flames into Elena.

"You have eyes. . ." the man murmured, his voice unnaturally deep that struck panic and dread deep into Elena and Amy, his jaw and mouth moving slower than the words he spoke. "I want your time. . . I want your hour. . ." The man started forward towards Elena, reaching out a hand, but stopped. He suddenly jerked backwards and hunched over, coughing as if something was going to come up. At first, he was coughing on air, then he began to hack off a thick, black liquid, some type of sludge really, that just seemed to come out of buckets from him. It went on like this for what seemed like hours for the two girls, until the man suddenly barked up an antique clock, letting it crash to the ground and drown in the man's own sludge. The man began to twitch, having a spasm as he stood up crookedly. "Give me your hour!" he screeched out, lunging at Elena who narrowly dodged his attack with a terrified shriek, clumsily rolling herself on the floor.

Swiftly, Amy quickly grasped Elena's wrist and pulled her up. "This way Miss Elena!" she shouted, taking off towards the direction of Clover Tower, pulling Elena with her. The distance wasn't too far for the average person of their size, but it was a great deal farther for Elena. Her feet began to stumble, and if it weren't for Amy pulling her along, then she would've fallen long ago. Elena could feel her heart hammer against her rib cage, throbbing in pain, her breathing became heavier, roughly gasping for sweet oxygen and black blotches began to invade her eyesight. "Don't worry Miss Elena, we're almost there!" Elena could faintly hear Amy's shouts as well as the man's heavy footsteps, hot on their trail. Clover Tower came into view, or at least Amy's view as Elena was just blindly following behind and Amy wasted no time in nearly ripping the front door off its hinges and throwing herself and Elena into the tower, slamming the door shut in the shadow man's face.

~Scene Change (Clover Tower)~

"Miss Elena, we've made it to safety. . ." Amy sighed in relief, slumping down to the floor. However, her ease was short lived as Elena doubled over on her knees and began to cough strongly and violently. "Miss Elena!" she shrieked in alarm, running to her side and kneeling beside her.

"Who are you?" a gruff voice asked from the other side of the room and Amy froze and shyly looked up. But Elena, with her vision clouded and the feeling of slipping between the conscious world and unconscious, passed out and fell to the hard tiled floor with a loud thud.

* * *

**A/N - My shortest chapter yet, about 3,000 words. The synopsis for this said that "a mysterious shadow has cloaked the land" and this chapter begins to show that. I'd like to thank the reviewers, people who favorited this and followers, which I'll do below (I'll include the other chapters as well into this one since I didn't do it before). If you have a question and leave it in the reviews, I will answer them there on the next chapter.**

******Please l****eave a review if you noticed something wrong in my grammar, your thoughts about this chapter and story so far, and/or if you noticed that the characters were OOC. By the way, I love playing with words, so if you notice something in the text/story, leave a review and show everyone your findings. Cookies, cake, candies, chocolates, and all to you for noticing as well. Thanks for reading!**

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	5. A Game of Morals

_Disclaimer__: I do not own Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice and its canon characters and ideas.  
Claimer: I do own this story, which includes plot and characters never introduced in __Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice_

* * *

**Chapter 5 - A Game of Morals**

~Scene Change (Elena's Dreams)~

Abstract swirls of green and black slowly moved around against the background of gray. Elena was walking aimlessly, her shoes echoing against an hard, invisible floor. "_Where am I?" _her mind asked her.

"You, my dear, are in your dreams," a smooth voice answered from above. Elena looked up and saw a man casually floating high above her, a small smile on his face. The man had gray eyes, or at least his left eye since his right eye was covered by a black, triangular eye patch outlined in gold, and gray hair, which slightly darkened at the tips and roots. He wore an open, dark gray coat with gold outlining, a white undershirt with frills at the edges, some of the frills coming out of the coat sleeves, a black tie with a golden diamond at the bottom and a gold pin, and two slim belts at his waist, though only one had a metal buckle. In his left pocket was a purple handkerchief. He also wore regular black slacks and black dress shoes. "_The only thing that seems normal about him,_" her mind added as an afterthought.

"Well, nothing is hardly normal here in Wonderland," the man answered with a chuckle, floating down until he was in front of her.

"_He acts as if he can read my mind. Am I really that obvious?_" Elena asked herself, her eyes widening in the slightest.

"Well, not that you're obvious. You're very hard to read from the outside," the man hummed, leaning in closer towards Elena to take a good look at her face before leaning back. "But what you thought first is true. I can read your mind," he said with a smile.

"_Okay, if you can read my mind, then please explain to me who you are exactly,_" the tone of annoyance didn't leave Elena's head voice.

"Very well. I am Nightmare Gottschalk and I rule over Clover Tower. I am the incubus of Wonderland and right now we are in your dreams," he answered smoothly and with authority. Elena's eyes narrowed dangerously, heatedly glaring at Nightmare, knowing the definition of an "incubus". "No, not that kind of incubus!" Nightmare yelled, shaking his head furiously and his hands stretched out in front of him. "I guess it's better if you just think of me as a 'dream demon' instead if you think of an 'incubus' like that," he sighed out with a bit if dejection in his voice.

"_Very well, Mister Gottschalk, why am I here?_" Elena's mind asked, relaxing her glare back to her indifferent, emotionless stare.

"Calling me 'Nightmare' is fine," he said. Elena remained silent, so he continued. "Anyway, I have been searching for something, or someone, that has apparently forced their way into Wonderland. I believe that 'someone' would be you," he answered._  
_

"_Then if I'm not supposed to be here, can you send me back home?_" Elena was actually enjoying herself a bit, not using her voice to talk.

"Why don't you use your voice to talk to me? I'm sure you can," Nightmare retorted, folding his arms across his chest.

"_If you can read my mind perfectly fine, then I don't see the need to actually speak. Now about my question. . ._" Elena inwardly smirked at this conversation.

Nightmare just sighed and rubbed his temples. "At the moment, I can't send you home because I don't know how you got here at all," he answered, using one hand to cup his chin in thought.

"_It was right before my wedding! I decided to take a walk outside and fell asleep against a tree!_" Elena's mind flashed back to the events.

"You were getting married?" Nightmare inquired with a look of surprise on his face.

"_Arranged marriage,_" her mind quickly supplied. "_Anyway, that's how I got here, so do you think you can figure something out?_"

Nightmare shook his head. "That's not what I meant. What I mean is that the only way to get into Wonderland is if I allow the White Rabbit to actually bring you here," he frowned.

"_White Rabbit?_"

"Peter White at Heart Castle," Nightmare answered dismissively. "But it doesn't make any sense. Tell me, have you ever gotten a vial?" he asked.

"_Yes actually. Joker told me that if I fill it up I can return home, but that sounds too. . . false to be true._" Elena reached into one of her side pockets and pulled out a translucent blue vial that had a heart stopper. There was a tiny bit of liquid accumulated at the bottom already.

"Joker?" Nightmare's eyes narrowed into a dangerous and angry look, though it was not directed to Elena. "No matter what you do, do not trust the Joker. He is a sadistic man that will-"

"_I've said the same thing to Mister March and now I will say the same to you,_" Elena's mind angrily cut him off, tired of all the bad rumors even though she'd only heard it once. "_I will not base Joker out of what comes out of your mouth Mister Gottschalk, or anyone else for that matter. If they are as horrible as you say then I wish to see it for myself and gain first-hand knowledge instead of second-hand,_" she paused for a moment, as if challenging him to speak against her. After a second of silence she continued, saying "_I've already went to Mister Dupre to ask him if he knew of another way out of Wonderland, but he said that Joker was right. You've said before that no one can enter Wonderland without your permission, so I take it you know the way out._"

"And you've already met with the Hatters," he murmured under his breath. "I'll be frank, I don't even know how you got here in the first place so I don't know how I can send you back," he said with finality. Then, the world around them began to shake and tremble. "Oh, it looks like you're waking up," he casually said, different from the tone he used before.

"Wait!" Elena shouted,using her vocal voice this time. "I still have a lot of things to ask you!"

Nightmare just smiled. "See, your voice sounds nice, adorable even," he complimented with a kind smile. Elena was taken aback by his compliment and her cheeks were lightly dusted in pink. No one had ever complimented her voice before, or went past the usual "You look nice" and such comments. "But don't worry, once you wake up I'm sure more of your questions will be answered," was the last thing he said before the dream world shattered.

~Scene Change (Clover Tower - Guest Bedroom)~

Elena softly groaned, a bit in pain, as her eyes slowly opened, careful of the new light. Once adjusted, she rolled her eyes to study the room since it was clear she was not in the prison's bedroom anymore. The walls were painted a faded nature-green color, there was a large window to her right draped with light gray curtains, two individual nightstands on both sides with their own lamp on top, a mirror closet in the left corner with an oak-wood door next to it on the left wall. From the mirror, she could see that she was on a black, four-posted bed with light green sheets, gray pillows, and a large canopy on the top. She hesitantly sat up, and just in time, the oak door swing open.

"Miss Elena!" Amy cried out, running into the room and throwing her arms around the girl. "I'm glad you're alright!" she breathed a sigh of relief as she pulled back and sat at the edge of the bed.

Elena coughed a bit and nodded. "Yeah, I'm alright," she answered, her voice airy from normal. She looked at the door and noticed another man standing at the door frame. He was tall, like all the other Role Holders, and had deep blue eyes, though not as dark as Elena's, and long, navy blue hair that went to his waist, tied back by a gold-colored ribbon. He had a long black coat with thick golden outlining and buttons, the larger buttons designed like clocks, especially the one right in the center of his upper chest. Underneath, he had a gold vest with abstract patterns and swirls, what looked to be a regular white undershirt and a tie that matched the color of his hair. "Hello?" she greeted, though it was more of a question.

"You're awake," the man stated the obvious. "You fainted after running away from a Shadow Creature. I had the maids to change your clothes and prepare you and your friend a guest room," he informed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Thank you," Elena said with a nod of appreciation. "You mentioned something called a 'Shadow Creature'. What are they?" she asked, thinking back on the man from last night.

"Those who are under the influence of the shadows," he replied curtly. "They attack those who are free of the influence and erase them."

Elena nodded slowly and looked at her lap in thought. By "erase", did he mean to murder or literally "erase"? With what's going on so far, Elena figured that most anything can happen in Wonderland.

"Your friend told me that you're a foreigner," the man spoke, bringing her out of thought.

"Yes, that's right," Elena nodded in confirmation. "If you don't mind me asking, who are you and where am I?" She distinctly remembered Amy leading her to a tall building, which she supposed was Clover Tower.

"I'm Julius Monrey and you're in Clover Tower," Julius answered.

"Thank you Mister Monrey for your hospitality," said Elena, turning her attention to Amy. "What happened when I was asleep?" she asked.

"Well, you were asleep for a few time periods, so I went to Master Joker," Elena's gaze flickered to Julius, who she saw tensed at the name, "and he told me to stay with you until you wake up," Amy finished.

"You are acquainted with Joker?" Julius asked as his eyes narrowed, his voice laced with hate and caution.

"They're the ones who found me and tended to me when I first landed here in Wonderland. At the moment, I take up lodging in their prison," Elena answered smoothly, though her eyes narrowed in the slightest back at Julius that it was unnoticeable to all. She shifted herself out of the sheets and stood next to Amy. "Well, I thank you again Mister Monrey for your help, but I'm afraid that we need to hurry back to the circus so as to not worry Joker any longer," she said with a light bow, though Julius sensed a bit of mockery in her gesture. Julius just grunted and left the room without a word, Elena's eyes following him with only a hint of a glare. "Come now Amy, we must return quickly before another nightfall," Elena said, her gaze relaxing a bit as she gestured towards Amy to follow her out the door.

The two of them were walking down the long, winding staircase, but Elena stopped when she saw yet another man with eyes walking towards them with a stack of papers in his arms. This man had short blue hair and honey-colored eyes. He had a long, dark gray coat that turned to a light gray color from his waist to the ends, though it was outlined in the same dark gray color, the unlatched buttons and holes a gold color. He seemed to be dressed in a regular, plain black business suit underneath with a white undershirt and black tie, though there was a brown and yellow sash across his chest. From under the collar of his white undershirt, Elena could see a black tattoo on his neck, though she couldn't make out the form. He had two knife bracers on his forearm and even a knife-holding belt for his thigh.

"_It seems that the majority of the Role Holders here have a rather fearful infatuation with weaponry,_" she speculated in her mind, keeping her face and posture completely stoic and aloof despite the ghastly truth.

"Ah, you're the girl Nightmare was talking about," he spoke once he looked up and saw them.

"Nightmare?" Elena asked, staying silent for a while to think. "Do you mean Mister Gottschalk?" she tried to confirm. Was the man in her dreams an actual mean?

The man nodded, and with his free arm, he motioned for them to follow him. "Come, he wishes to see you," was all he said before he bounded up the stairwell and passed them.

"Should we?" Elena whispered to Amy, who just nodded and shrugged. With a soft sigh, Elena began to trudge herself upstairs with Amy following.

~Scene Change (Clover Tower - Nightmare's Office)~

The sound of the door creaking open caused Nightmare to look up from his paperwork. First he saw his assistant, Gray Ringmarc enter through, then he saw Elena and Amy follow not soon after. Nightmare gestured for them to sit before his desk, smiling as he heard the slight confusion in Elena's head. "Yes Elena, I am indeed a real person," he said with a chuckle.

Elena looked a bit more confused for a moment, until she remembered it. "_That's right, you can read my mind. That's how you know my name. Considering that you're assistant only called me 'girl', I'm guessing that you've learned it just recently. I'm assuming that you've read Amy's mind as well?_" she spoke to him in her mind as she took a seat in one of the open chairs in front of his desk.

"Yes, that's correct," Nightmare confirmed with a smile. "Why not talk to me with your actual voice this time so that your friend Amy will know what we are talking about," he coaxed her.

Glancing at Amy, then back at Nightmare, she nodded. "Very well," she said. Elena saw Gray approach Nightmare's desk, dropping the stack of papers right in front of him, to which Nightmare groaned in annoyance. Elena inaudibly chuckled at his childish behavior towards his own work, earning her a sharp look from Nightmare telling her to "shut up".

"Elena, this is my assistant, Gray Ringmarc," Nightmare introduced, rubbing his temples from the extra load of paper work.

"Hello Mister Ringmarc," Elena politely greeted, to which Gray nodded and sat down at his own desk to do his own paperwork. She noticed that even though he was quiet with her, he was not as grumpy as Julius. "Now Mister Gottschalk, why have you called me here?" she questioned, though it seemed more like a demand, as she turned her attention back to the dream demon.

Nightmare only chuckled at her tone, leaning back in his leather chair and folding his hands over his crossed lap. "Well, in your dreams you mentioned that you had more questions to ask," he said.

Elena nodded, getting the gist of what he was saying. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her blue vial, which had the tiniest bit of liquid inside, and placed it standing up on Nightmare's desk. "Can you tell me what this vial is? Joker called it the 'Medicine of Hearts'." Her gaze flickered for a mere second to Gray, whose shoulders shook tensely before relaxing at the mention of the name.

Nightmare took the vial into his hand and lifted it up to the light, inspecting the small amount of liquid that had already accumulated. "As you've already know, this vial is your only way out," to this Elena silently scoffed, "Once you drink this vial in the beginning, then you'll have to play the Game here in Wonderland," he further explained.

"The 'Game'? I don't have time for games," Elena paused for a moment before heaving a sigh. "Either way, this 'game' of yours is clearly important, so pray tell, what is it?" she tiredly asked.

"Well, the Game is different for every foreigner that comes to Wonderland. It's just how the rules work," Nightmare answered with a shrug.

"And how is it different?" she inquired.

"It's, well. . . how should I say this?" Nightmare trailed off in thought. "First off, those that come here suffer from an emotional pain and it's Wonderland that heals them, or so to say. Now, parts of Wonderland represents or symbolizes something unique and related to that Foreigner. Some symbols may be near-identical while others may be complete opposite from other Foreigners," he tried to explain. Elena opened her mouth to speak, but Nightmare had cut her off. "And before you ask, I don't exactly know what represents what since this is supposed to be your game, even if you were forced into it by means which I do not know."_  
_

Elena slowly nodded, taking in the information. "And I assume all others before me had only the vial as means of escape?" she asked, to which Nightmare hummed in confirmation. Elena was growing tired of this round-about information. Perhaps she should inquire more about the 'Game' itself rather than the vial? Maybe then she'll be able to figure something out. "Well, then tell me about the last foreigner that was here." At the mention of that, Elena saw Nightmare stiffened and Gray freeze in his work.

"What do you want to know about her?" Nightmare could barely make his voice sound normal and Elena could hear the restraints in his throat.

"Anything you know," she replied with a shrug.

"Well, how should I start this. . ." Nightmare looked up at the ceiling with a faraway look in his gaze. "Alice Liddell was her name. Her pain was that her tutor, her boyfriend, was in love with her sister. Then she came to Wonderland." A soft smile crept onto Nightmare's face and Elena could see the corners to Gray's lips twitch upward, staying there. "She was an amazing, sweet, kind and caring young lady with motherly talents. Like with most other Foreigners, we Role Holders have fallen deeply in love with her. And who wouldn't? As fragile and precious as she is, she values life in this world that views life as nothing but recyclable pawns."

Elena quickly stood as a thought came to her, but she shoved it down before Nightmare could get an inkling of what it was. "Well, I thank you for your time and for answering my questions, Mister Gottschalk, and for escorting us up here, Mister Ringmarc," she nodded to the both of them. "However, it is getting rather late and I'm afraid that we must return to the circus at once." She gestured for Amy to come to her side, which she did.

Nightmare blinked, bringing himself back to reality, then looked at Elena in confusion and surprise. "We could let you stay the night," he tried to persuade her.

Elena shook her head. "No thank you. I don't want to keep Joker waiting. Thank you again and good night," she bid them farewell, briskly walking through the door with Amy right behind.

~Scene Change (Wonderland Town)~

"Sorry for ignoring you in that conversation Amy," Elena apologized once they were out of the tower and off to town. It was already late in the afternoon and they knew they had to hurry back to the circus before dark came.

Amy just shook her head with a smile. "It's alright Miss Elena. It was a conversation that you needed to hear and I didn't wish to interrupt." Amy thought for a second, recollecting her thoughts. "If you don't mind me asking, why did you leave the tower in such a hurry?" she casually asked, though with a bit of hesitance.

Elena smiled at the voice, beginning to see Amy come out of her shell, at least with her. "No I don't mind such a question at all. Anyway, I left because I didn't want to offend Nightmare with my thoughts," she answered, a sardonic smile forming on her face as she allowed those very thoughts to freely roam her mind. "If it was anyone else, I would've stayed," she added as an afterthought.

Glancing at the sarcastic smile on the girl's face, Amy's brows furrowed in confusion. "I don't exactly get it."

"Tell me, Amy, does no one truly care about another's life, even their own?" Elena suddenly asked, to which Amy nodded. "And Miss Liddell had a high value on life, yes?" Again, Amy nodded. "Then don't you see what this is, Amy? It's admiration for breaking the moral code, like how a child admires superheroes for their heroic deeds," she finished.

Amy slowly nodded. "I'm beginning to see your point," she replied slowly.

Elena took a deep breath and prepared herself for lecture-mode. . . "You see Amy, there are two different factors that were at play here during Miss Liddell's 'Game'. There's the moral code which the inhabitants of Wonderland holds and then there is Miss Liddell's moral reasoning.

"Now, let's start on Wonderland's moral code. The definition of a moral code is basically the set of standards and rules that the society around us has placed in our teachings since we were born. They are the unspoken laws followed by most everyone unconsciously. It's hard to tell what is 'right' and what is 'wrong' given the fact that no matter where you go, the morality between yourself and others are always different. With that in mind, let's track back now. You see, Wonderland's largest 'unspoken law' is that life is generally unimportant and expendable. It's been taught to everyone that has ever been born here so it is drilled deep within your minds and so you follow without question with the thought that what's going on around you is 'right'.

"And then there is Miss Liddell, who obviously disagreed with what was going on, using her moral reasoning as her base. For this, let's examine _Lawrence Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Reasoning_. First, let's examine this theory to understand better. There are three main levels in this with two stages each and the higher you go, then the more 'enlightened' you are in ethics.

"The first level is the _Pre-Conventional Level_, which is mainly used by children and other times adults. Reasoners of this level look at the direct consequences of their actions. Now the first stage under this level would be Avoidance of Punishment, which a decision is made based on the punishment the decider could receive, 'I won't do this because then this would happen to me'. The second stage would be Reward Seeking, a decision with thoughts of self-benefits 'I scratch your back, you scratch mine'.

"Then comes the second level, the _Conventional __Level_, used mainly by adults. Reasoners of this level often look at society's views to make their decision. The third stage now would be Avoidance of Disapproval, decision made to be viewed on as being 'good', 'They will be happy if I do this'. The fourth stage after this would be Law and Order, a decision made based on the belief in the value of society's rules, 'The law requires that we do this instead of this'.

"The final level would now be the _Principled Level_, rarely ever achieved by anyone really. Reasoners of this level are those that break away from their society's moral codes and begin to think for themselves. The fifth stage under this is Social Contract Fulfillment, as a decision is made based on whether or not the decider believes that a certain law is good or bad for society. If the law is bad, then they will go about to change it as they believe it will 'be for the greater good of the most number of people'. Now the final stage would be the Golden Rule, where decisions are made solely on one's individual principles that follow the saying from the Bible 'Do unto others as you would have others do unto you'.

"Understanding this, we go on back to Alice, whom I believe was operating at the fifth stage, Social Contract Fulfillment, as she tried to change your laws and views on life, but that's about it. People usually view those who reason at the _Principled Level_ with great admiration and respect, and that's why I think most everyone 'falls in love' with Foreigners, for they are so different from Wonderland and seemingly independent and individual thinkers. Though I don't think it's 'love', but just holding such person in high respects, which many tend to confuse the two. However, it takes more than words and even action to change something as deep as moral codes, though most times they'll never change at all. Perhaps they'll shift, but only to revert back to its normal state when the source of the 'push' is gone."

~Scene Change (Circus)~

Elena kept giving her mini-lesson till they reached the outskirts of the circus and it was already night. As a lover of any form of literature, it was easy for her to get lost with such trains of thoughts and deep topics. Amy kept silent the whole time, intently listening and absorbing everything the girl said as she began to understand more than just the reason as to why Elena left the tower so early with just a simple talk. She saw how Elena's eyes lit up in excitement and an enthusiastic smile bloomed on her face, how eagerly and thoughtfully she spoke and her hands animatedly following her words with matching gestures. After her speech, Amy wondered allowed before she could stop herself, "Then what are your views on life, Miss Elena?" Amy's widened in shock as she realized what she had just said, her hands quickly flying to her gaping mouth. "I-I-I a-am so t-terribly sor-" she stopped herself when Elena held a hand.

"Like Miss Liddell, I do believe that the life of others is very important and irreplaceable. If I do see someone being threatened with such right in front of me, then I will intervene. However, I will not try to change Wonderland's moral codes for it is not my right to do so," she spoke with wisdom.

Amy solemnly nodded, slowly relaxing her arms and facial expression. "Then what will you do if everyone begins to hold you in high respect, even fall in love with you?" she softly asked.

"That's basically what this whole 'Game' business is. It's all a game of morals to see which side rises and falls, the Foreigner or Wonderland. Either way, I have to leave as soon as possible," Elena said with the tiniest hint of something else in her voice, though Amy could not tell. The two of them walked on, disappearing into the main tent of the circus.

* * *

**A/N - I finally got a chapter out! Yes! Anyway, I apologize for such a lecture from Elena, but it's in her character to do such a thing as a lover of literature. Also, I added a visual of what Elena is supposed to look like, small, pale, long black hair, blue eyes (though Elena's are a shade of midnight blue) and with a stoic/indifferent/expressionless face (the wedding dress is in a similar fashion to Elena's). All and full credit to the creator of a beautiful picture as I do not own it.**

**********Please l****eave a review if you noticed something wrong in my grammar, your thoughts about this chapter and story so far, and/or if you noticed that the characters were OOC. By the way, I love playing with words, so if you notice something in the text/story, leave a review and show everyone your findings. Cookies, cake, candies, chocolates, and all to you for noticing as well. Thanks for reading!**

**Reviewers  
**_-Lov3  
-Anonymous from phone (Because I didn't answer your question. I'm sorry!) = I wanted Elena to have a last name, but decided against it as I began to plan out the plot.  
_


	6. Her Promise to Leave

_Disclaimer__: I do not own Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice and its canon characters and ideas.  
Claimer: I do own this story, which includes plot and characters never introduced in __Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice_

* * *

**Chapter 6 - Her Promise to Leave**

~Scene Change (Elena's Dreams)~

Elena's eyes fluttered open slowly, giving her time to adjust to the bright lighting of her surroundings. Softly groaning, she lazily moved to stand up. Looking around her surroundings, Elena perceived that she was in an open and plain field as far as she could see. She was wearing nothing but long, white nightgown that stopped just above her ankles and had slightly puffy sleeves down to her elbows.

With nothing else to do, she began to walk towards an aimless direction, however the shadow of a large tree and small figures up ahead caused her to slow down and inspect the situation. She stopped as her eyes landed on a figure dressed in white sitting on the grass with a group of other little children sitting at the base of the tree in front of her, playing with each other, their back to her. It was most likely a female by the look of their slender arm and hand that rested on the grass, and their long, chocolaty hair that slightly curled at the ends.

"_An aged count once lived in Switzerland, who had an only son, but he was stupid, and could learn nothing_," the woman began. Elena instantly recognized the voice as the one from her previous dreams.

"Um, excuse me. . ." Elena took a hesitant step forward, reaching out a hand to touch the woman's shoulder. She placed her hand on her shoulder, but the woman did not move. Instead, a small, warm hand of a child placed itself over her own.

"Hello my sweet," a soft, high-pitched child's voice called out. The head of a child peered over the woman's shoulder and stared straight at Elena. The child looked to be around four with bobbed black hair, the same white dress Elena had on and bright blue eyes that sparkled with innocence. "Come, we'll play together, my sweet," the little girl beckoned. "Let's play in our perfect world. Just you, me and our dolls," she gestured to the other children who did turn out to be dolls by the spaces between the joints. Everyone wore their own version of a white nightgown or nightwear, depending on the gender. The dolls began to urge her to come and sit with them. Two young girls stood and ran over to Elena, grabbing a hold of each arm and tugging her forward to where they sat, pulling her down to sit, leaning on the trunk of the tree. Elena turned her attention to the lady who was still reading the story and was quiet surprised that she had no eyes, but a kind and motherly smile on her face.

"Hello?" she tried to get the woman's attention. However, the woman ignored her and continued with the story as the child that spoke earlier hoped off her lap and plopped herself comfortably on Elena's.

"Don't say a word my sweet, and just listen to the story," said the child, leaning her head back to look at Elena upside-down and placing a single finger on Elena's lips as a gesture for silence. The children turned their attention back to the woman and listened intently as Elena began to node off to the soothing tone of the voice.

"_Funny, I just notice how this tree smells completely like Earl Grey,_" she thought as her head bobbed up and down. The moment her head lightly hit the tree trunk, she heard the strange clunk of metal, waking her up. "What the. . .?" she questioned out loud, turning her head back to see the source of the metal. What she saw was a large metal door that she didn't notice before. Elena gently moved the girl off her lap and slowly stood, staring at the door. She was about to reach for the handle, when the child's hand hastily grabbed hers and pulled it down. Elena looked back at the group and saw that they were all frozen in sadness and fear, even the woman stopped talking and had a frown.

"No my sweet! You must stay here!" the child urged, trying to pull her away from the door.

"I. . . I just want to see what's behind the door. . ." Elena trailed off, finding their sudden change in behavior rather odd. She turned back and rolled up on her tip-toes to peer through the barred window. Her face turned to one of mild surprise when she saw all the landmarks that marked Wonderland. "I guess I'd better head back now since it's morning. . ." she trailed off. She reached again for the door handle, only to be pulled back forcefully by a great strength from the child.

"Why are you trying to leave my sweet?! Let's stay in this perfect world together!" the child screamed out, her voice turning shrill.

"_Let yourself fall asleep,_" the woman spoke, slowly standing and reaching a hand out to Elena. The dolls moved behind her and stood in an organized position. "_Away from reality and together in content happiness,_" she continued to speak.

Elena shook her head. "But there's nothing without 'reality' and just 'content happiness'," she softly replied. She didn't know why, but there was a small voice in the back of her mind that told her to oblige with the woman, to follow and obey her.

The woman looked confused for a moment. "_Why would you want to go back there? They're all just animals. Come here and you'll be safe forever,_" she tried to coax her, bringing up her arms and gesturing for Elena to take her hug._  
_

"What? But I don't want to be safe forever," she whispered out, nervously looking between her and the little army of dolls behind her. The unexplainable urge and feeling of willingly being under the woman's control was growing stronger and it was beginning to unnerve Elena. "I'm sorry, I have to go," she hastily said, rapidly pulling her hand away from the child's grip and opening the door with all her strength. She wasted no time in running through the door.

"_Wait!_" the woman screamed out in distress. Elena, her body already halfway through the door, could only look back at the woman for the briefest second. Before the door closed itself, she could have sworn that the woman had dark blue eyes shining with tears before everything went black.

~Scene Change (Elena's Bedroom)~

Elena groaned as her eyes fluttered open and she lazily sat up, hunching over and rubbing her eyes. "Another strange dream in this strange place. . ." she muttered with a sigh. She looked around, but didn't see Amy, or anyone else, in the room. Perhaps she's doing work for the circus? She began to think about her dream, especially of the woman and child, but was beginning to draw a blank. After sitting still and staring at nothing for about a minute or so, she silently sighed and moved to get ready for a new day.

~Scene Change (Prison)~

Elena walked through the silent halls of the prison, the small heels on her shoes making a soft tacking noise against the dirty stone floor. She slowed down as she heard the sound of other, heavier footsteps coming towards her general direction. Looking up, she saw that it was the warden Joker, probably doing his rounds around the prison. "Joker," she called out, walking to her normal speed to catch up to him. The warden looked up and stopped as he saw Elena walking towards him, in front of him.

"Finally you're f*cking awake," he muttered, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Yes, good morning to you as well," she replied sarcastically with a roll of her eyes. She stared at him for a moment, contemplating whether or not to ask him her question.

"What?" the warden growled out, his face pulling into a sneer, annoyed of her staring.

"Do you remember Miss Liddell?" she abruptly asked.

"'Miss Liddell'?" the warden muttered. He took a moment to try and find the name in his memory, snapping his fingers when he suddenly remembered. "Oh yeah, that was the whore's last name," he said.

"So you don't love Miss Liddell as the other Role Holders," Elena assumed, seeing as how he wouldn't refer to Alice as nothing but a whore. She could hear the tone in his voice as he remembered. It wasn't like the other two where it was clear with admiration and "love", no it sounded more like a dismissive "Who? Oh yeah, I think I remember them".

"Why the hell would I go for that b*tch?" he angrily asked, as if he had been accused of something. The warden thought for a moment before a sly smirk slowly made its way to his face and he leaned down towards Elena's face. "And why are you asking? Don't tell me you're jealous," he taunted.

"Depends, do the angels from high above talk in the same manner you do?" she retorted. She smirked in the slightest when the warden frowned and stood to his original height. "Exactly," she nearly snorted out, her smirk disappearing. "No, I just want to figure out what her Game was so as to give me hints as to what my own Game is supposed to be. The sooner I get to finish my Game, the sooner I can return home," she answered.

"So you're still hell-bent on leaving Wonderland," the warden thought out loud. "Well, that girl was a b*tch and a whore, leading most of the Role Holders on."

"And I assume that you and the jester as Joker didn't follow her lead?" Elena asked with the tiniest hint of surprise. Usually someone who operated at a Level Three in an unknown environment would be highly looked upon by the surrounding inhabitants as long as they played their cards right. Alice certainly had, Nightmare's and Gray's reactions had pointed that out.

"Why the hell would we? She's f*cking annoying and idiotic as hell!" the warden retorted. "Tried preaching about how life was important, but didn't have a d*mn backbone in her body to back herself up. Always depending on some other b*stard-of-a-Role-Holder to defend her and giving us more f*cking trouble than her little whore *ss is worth," he added with a disgruntled mutter.

"Well, people seemed to love her, even after she left," she mused out, her eyes rolling a bit upward towards the ceiling in thought.

"Che!" the warden just clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Ever since she's left, those god d*amned Shadows appeared and won't leave us the f*ck alone."

Elena's eyes snapped back to his at the mention of the Shadows. "Do you mean those figures that look completely like a shadow, except their white eyes?" she immediately asked.

"Ah that's right, you've already encountered one," the warden replied. "That girl you're always with tells the clown freak everything whenever you come back," he informed before she could ask.

"I see. By the way, do you know where Amy, that girl, is?" she asked. Elena expected Amy to tell the jester Joker since he was her boss, and with their walkie-talkie masks, it was no surprise as to how the warden knew as well.

"And now you've even given her a dumb name," he rolled his eyes at that, causing Elena to frown slightly. "No, the circus freak was rather unhappy after you were attacked and demanded to talk to the girl not too long ago," he said dismissively, waving his hand in the same manner.

Elena's eyes widened and her face took on a bit of a panicked look. "Thank you for the information, Mister Joker," she said as she rushed past him and out the exit, towards the circus.

~Scene Change (Circus)~

Elena had wandered through the main tent for some time, looking for the jester. She had asked around for his whereabouts, to which the clowns and workers replied that they didn't know. However, she wasn't convinced as she could hear the tenseness in their voice, see their nervous smiles and some even barely shaking. Either way, she wasn't going to get the answers she wanted so the best thing to do was to wait for him to return to the main tent. Elena sat on the edge of the stage and turned her back to watch the performers practice their routines. Suddenly, everyone slowed to a standstill and stared at the entrance, causing Elena to look forward and follow his gaze. It was the jester Joker.

"Continue practicing everyone!" he called out to them, and the performers did as they were told. He noticed Elena sitting on the edge and smiled, making his way towards her. Elena gave him a quick look over as he walked over. The soles of his shoes were slightly muddy, his clothes were lightly dirtied, certain parts of his left hand had a bit of dark dust, his right hand held a key she does not recall seeing either sides of the Joker ever having. "My sweet, why do you look so down?" he asked, stopping a few feet in front of her.

Elena inwardly flinched at the name, remembering her dream. However, that was meant for her own time, so she decided to ignore the feeling. "Where's Amy? The girl you had escort me throughout Wonderland," she asked.

The jester blinked a bit, perhaps in confusion, though it was quickly replaced by his usual smile. "Ah, she has some extra work she needs to take care of. If you wish to go and explore more of Wonderland, I shall call for another escort for you." He turned towards the stage and was about to gesture for one of the nearest performers.

"Lies," Elena said seriously, causing the jester to stop his movement and look back at her with confusion. "You've walked on the ground of a lesser tent, you were in one of the dirtier tents before you came here, you've held a small bar that was dirtied, most likely a cage bar, and I've yet to see that key that you're holding," she said, remembering what she had noticed earlier.

"That's because I was dealing with the animals," he replied. The tips of Elena's mouth pulled back to a scowl as she could hear the intensity that his voice and expression took on, though it was hardly noticeable. Without another word, Elena abruptly stood and snatched the key out of Joker's hand.

"I'm completely capable of taking care of myself," was all she said before half-stomping out of the tent, leaving a stunned-to-silence Joker behind.

~Scene Change (Circus - Outside)~

Elena made her way swiftly to the animal tent, as it was the only place in the circus where the cages were. She stopped to see two burly men standing attentively at the open flap as if to guard it. They seemed to be the security-type in the circus, rather than performers. "Excuse me, but could you let me through?" she politely asked as she stopped in front of them.

"Sorry young miss, but Master Joker has strict rules to not allow anyone inside," the man to the right said.

"Especially you," said the man to the left.

"Well I think he gave me permission since he gave me the key to one of the cages," Elena pretended to say innocently, holding up the key for them to see. It wasn't a complete lie. If Joker really did not want her to come here, then he could have come after her by now and easily stopped her with him being larger and obviously more physically inclined then she could ever be. Besides, she only said that she "thought", indicating that she didn't really know.

"But we're under strict orders. . ." the right man trailed off, looking at the key.

Elena shrugged and put the key back into her pocket. "Okay, I'll tell Mister Joker that I can't do what he has asked of me. I'm sorry to have wasted your time," she said, turning on her heel and about to walk away.

"W-Wait! If Master Joker has asked you to do so, then we can't refuse," the left man hastily said as the both moved out of the way.

Inwardly smirking, Elena smiled and nodded in thanks towards the both of them before entering the tent.

~Scene Change (Circus - Animal Tent)~

It was hard to see around since it was rather dark, but Elena managed. "Hey, Amy! Where are you?!" she called out past the noise of the animals.

"M-M-Miss Elena?" Amy's voice called back. Elena quickly made her way through to follow the source, which lead her to the back corner of the tent. She stopped to look at Amy, who was most definitely caged. Amy wore her old clown costume and was sitting in the center of the cage, hugging her knees to her chest. She looked rather dirty, but that was to be expected in a place such as an animal tent.

"Amy, are you alright? Joker hasn't tried anything, has he?" Elena asked in concern, coming up to the cage doors.

"No," Amy shook her head. "All Master Joker did was lock me in here and said that I'll be allowed out in a few time periods."

Elena pulled out the key and began to work the lock. "Well, I'm getting you out right now, so you don't have to worry about that," she said.

"What?!" Amy shrieked in fear and surprise. "What if Master Joker gets angry at you?" she said with a shake.

"If he didn't want me to do this, then he would've been here by now," Elena said. It was true, it has been a rather long time and Joker still has yet to show up. "Besides, if he does get angry, then let me deal with him." The satisfying click met their ears and Elena opened the cage door wide open, holding out a hand inside to help Amy.

"But Miss Elena, it's bad news to get Master Joker angry," she gravely warned.

"I know what I'm doing Amy, just trust me," Elena convinced her with a small, soft smile. Amy hesitantly took Elena's hand and stepped out of the cage. Once she was out, Elena threw the keys into the cage and closed the door.

"What are you doing Miss Elena?" she asked.

"A present for Joker should he come here. Come on now," said Elena with a small joking smile playing on her lips. She lightly tugged on Amy's hand and the two went on their way to leave the tent.

~Scene Change (Forest)~

"I don't mean to pry, so you don't have to answer this Amy, but why do you continue working with Joker if he treats you like that?" Elena asked as they walked through the forest.

"No, I don't mind if you ask me that at all. Besides, it's not like we faceless have a choice. . ." she trailed off with a hint of sadness.

"So this place if the epitome of unequal distribution of power and wealth," Elena nodded, satisfied with the answer.

"Well, it's not only that. I actually love the circus and my old employer," she said with a nostalgic smile.

"Old employer? Another Role Holder called 'Joker'?" Elena asked, quite interested to hear.

Amy nodded. "Yeah, but she wasn't called 'Joker', she was known as the 'Ringleader'." Amy closed her eyes and intertwining her fingers together in front of her chest. "She was the most beautiful woman ever. She was merciful and kind to everyone, taking the weak and poor under her wings. I was one of them, so I opted to work in her circus to repay her kindness." Amy then opened her eyes and her smile turned into a saddened frown, her gaze slowly moving downwards. "And then she just disappeared into thin air. . . No one knew where she went or why. . . Maybe she was kidnapped, but no one dared messed with Mistress Ringleader," Amy sighed in sorrow, dropping her arms to her side. "And then Alice came right around the time Mistress Ringleader left and a knew Role Holder was chosen. Master Joker. No one knows about her anymore since Alice's Game started, except for us faceless who still remain fiercely loyal to her till this day."

"About how many are there left in the circus?" Elena softly asked.

Amy shook her head. "Not many, perhaps only me," she said with a sigh. "Say, Miss Elena, will you take me to your world?" she quietly asked.

Elena stared at her. Was it even possible to do so? If she did, how will she fit in without having eyes? Well, there is always plastic surgery or just having her wear dark glasses and say that she's blind. "Yes, I will," she nodded in determination.

Amy brightly smiled and hugged Elena tightly. "Oh, thank you Miss Elena! Oh how I've longed to leave Wonderland once and for all!" she squealed in delight,jumping up and down. "You're the greatest friend I have ever come to know," Amy added softly as she stopped jumping up and down.

Friend. . . the word replayed over and over in Elena's mind as she stood there, completely shocked. It sounded so foreign to her ears. Living her life in the hospital, she never cared much for such trivial things, but now. . . A strange, warm sensation bubbled within Elena's chest. Friend. . . It was nice to be called such with such true meaning.

"Yes Amy, I promise we'll leave Wonderland together," Elena whispered in sincerity, slowly moving her arms to hug Amy back. She knew she would have to work harder now, but it didn't matter. She intended to keep and faithfully carry out her promise to leave.

* * *

**A/N - This is probably my fastest released chapter thus far. Sorry for such slow updates.**

**************Please l****eave a review if you noticed something wrong in my grammar, your thoughts about this chapter and story so far, and/or if you noticed that the characters were OOC. By the way, I love playing with words, so if you notice something in the text/story, leave a review and show everyone your findings. Cookies, cake, candies, chocolates, and all to you for noticing as well. Thanks for reading!**

**Reviewers  
**_-AnimeAngel = What Elena means by "fall" is "who would follow who first"? Is Wonderland going to follow Elena's views on morality (their "fall") or is Elena going to follow __Wonderland moral code (her "fall")? I hope this answers your question!_

_-Guest_


	7. A World of Animals

_Disclaimer: I do not own Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice and its canon characters and ideas.__  
__Claimer: I do own this story, which includes plot and characters never introduced in __Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice_

* * *

**Chapter 7 - A World of Animals**

~Scene Change (Wonderland Town)~

Elena and Amy walked through the morning streets of Wonderland, relaxing and looking through various shops. For once that Elena could remember in her life, she was freely smiling brightly. Hell, if Joker were to be mad at her, then so be it. She can handle them. After all, it's brains over bronze, isn't it? Just then, Elena stopped and remembered something rather important. "Hey Amy," she called out, causing said girl to stop and turn around to face her. "We have yet to go either the Amusement Park or Hearts' Castle," she said.

"Oh, that's right!" Amy said, recalling their previous adventures. "Well, with the money Master Joker has given us, it should be no problem getting us tickets," she said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out her wallet, counting the bills inside while turning towards the direction of the Amusement Park and walking onward.

Elena softly groaned in annoyance at the sight of the money. She didn't want to take any more than she essentially needed, but since she needed to get information out of the Role Holders in Wonderland and money was the only way to get into the Amusement Park, she knew she had no choice. "This Amusement Park better be worth those bills," she muttered quietly to herself, jogging towards Amy to catch up.

~Scene Change (Amusement Park)~

Walking through the Amusement Park, both Elena and Amy had opposite feelings about being there. Grumbling quietly under her breath every once in a while, Elena was not pleased to be walking under the hot sun through a sweaty crowd. Amy, on the other hand, was an excited child being there, wanting to try out everything the park had to offer. She tried getting Elena to join in with her, but considering the fact that nearly all the rides were enough to give her a heart attack, Amy just went on the rides while Elena patiently waited for her at the end.

"You would think that a Role Holder would stand out in a crowd like this," Elena said as they rested on a bench.

"The Amusement Park's a huge place and there are a lot of people here," Amy reasoned as she ate her burger, though Elena just hummed in response in thought. Looking over, Amy stopped eating her burger and held it out to Elena, bringing her out of her thoughts. "Here, have some. I doubt you had breakfast," Amy said.

"It's okay, I'm fine," Elena said with a small shake of her head. She leaned back on the bench and stared at the sky in thought. After some moments of silence, Elena spoke first. "I've never had time to notice it, but the sky is really different here," she mused, never moving from her position.

Amy threw away her burger wrap in a nearby trash bin and looked at Elena. "Different from what?" she asked.

"From what I'm used to," Elena answered. Taking in Amy's silence as a sign to go on, she continued. "Back in my world, I've always been locked up inside a hospital room for as long as I can remember. Day after day, I would do nothing except read books or watch TV. I could never get along with the other patients because I knew they would always leave and never come back. Also because I just got bored of whatever they talked about, always dull and never challenging nor changing," Elena took a moment to breath. "I guess the sky back there was always so. . . dull and polluted. Though the sky here colorful, fresh, and free. Maybe its because this place is a change for me," Elena said with a shrug.

Amy began to wring her hands together, nervously looking between her white knuckles and Elena. "Does that mean that you want to stay here?" she quietly asked, though she didn't think she wanted to know the answer.

Shifting her gaze between the sky and Amy's expression, Elena could see why she was worried. "No, of course not," she reassured her smoothly, "There are things I need to do back in my world and besides, we made a promise to go there." Amy smiled at the reassurance. She opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off when Elena stood and stretched her arms and back. "Come on. We have to continue searching for the Role Holders before the end of the day. I think it'd be best if we split up since we still have a lot of ground to cover" she said before walking to a nearby map to navigate their way. With the smile still on her face, Amy stood and jogged over to Elena to look at the map and decide on a different direction.

_Time Change (Evening)_

"Are you kidding me?" Elena said with exasperation as she glared up at the sky. "We've only been walking around for half-an-hour at most and it's already late in the evening. These random time changes are an inconvenience as well as an annoyance," she huffed, kicking the ground. "And here I was, hoping that we wouldn't have to pay for another ticket to get in here again." Just then, a horrible screeching split through the calm air, both girls hastily pressing their hands to their ears in a vain attempt to stop the noise. "What the hell is that?!" Elena yelled out over the noise, walking over to investigate. What she saw was a tall man, probably in his thirties, stood in the center of the walkway and was playing a violin, though was not holding it correctly. He wore a long yellow coat outlined with blue and had blue diamond designs on the sleeves and musical notes on the end of the sleeves and the lapels. His thigh-high boots were in the same fashion as his coat. The man had long, dark red hair that was braided to the side and behind his glasses were green eyes.

"Excuse me?" Elena said to the man once she was close enough. The man stopped playing and looked down at her curiously.

"You have eyes. . ." he trailed off, then suddenly smiled and bent down to meet her eye level. "Ah, are you perhaps a new Role Holder?" he asked with excitement.

"No, sorry," Elena answered. "My name is Elena and I'm what Wonderland refers to as a 'foreigner'," she introduced. "Now I'm assuming you're a Role Holder."

The man straightened himself and nodded, holding out a hand to Elena. "Yes, the name's Gowland, owner of this Amusement Park," the man said as Elena reached out and shook his gloved hand. "Now tell me, did you like my violin performance?" he asked.

Elena was saved from answering the question when a young man's voice yelled out, shouting "Stop playing your violin, old man! You'll scare away the customers!" Looking over, Elena saw a young man about her age with spiky pink hair that covered his left eye, but his right eye was a bright amber color with a small tattoo of an upside-down triangle underneath. He wore a black tank top, which only covered his chest and left his stomach bare, with an open pink zipper that had a golden key hanging off of it. The boy had black shorts and high black-and-pink stripped socks with white shoes. Around his neck was a pink color with a long golden chain hanging off. His large boa that was hanging around his shoulder was stripped in light and dark pink and had a few metals attached to it. As he came closer, he noticed Elena staring at him. "Oh? And who are you?" he asked her.

"I'm Elena, the foreigner," she said distractedly. She just stared at his cat-like, pink furry ears and tail that had piercings. Perhaps she should have done the same with that Elliot man, but the unnecessary amount of pink on someone who was supposed to be a cat was stranger. Then again, this is Wonderland, so anything can happen. With that thought, she snapped her focus back in place. "So you're another Role Holder?"

"Yeah! Boris Airay, the Cheshire Cat of the Amusement Park," he greeted with a smile. "Was this old man bothering you with his violin?" he asked in humor while Gowland indignantly yelled out a "Hey!" in the background, though he looked expectantly at Elena, reminding her of Gowland's question before.

"With enough practice, he'll be better," she said, effectively evading a real answer. She watched them as they just laughed off her answer. "As Role Holders, I have a simple question to ask you," Elena stated seriously. It was already evening and she had to get back to the circus soon before another Shadow Creature shows up. She waited until their full attention was on her before asking, "Alice Liddell, who was she?" Visibly, she can see the two turn to stone at the mention of the name.

"Why would you want to know about her?" Boris asked warily with a shaky smile, though it looked like he was trying to hold back tears.

"The other Role Holders I've talked to mentioned her, and I'm just curious," she casually said with a shrug.

"Well. . ." Gowland began. . .

_Time Change (Late Evening/Early Night)_

Elena had a hard time staying awake through their explanation, more like endless praises and exaggerations, of Alice. Even though only a few minutes passed before the sky changed, they were rather boring minutes for Elena. "_I'll never get information from anyone if they all describe her like this!_" her mind shouted in annoyance. Her eyes began to drift around a bit, stopping once she saw the familiar head of short, curly brown hair. "Well, that's a very descriptive description," she began, cutting Boris off mid-sentence, "But I really must get back to the circus."_  
_

"The circus?" Gowland asked with a low rumbling growl.

"Yes," Elena resisted the urge to roll her eyes, "They offer me lodging while I'm here in Wonderland."

"Well, we'll allow you to stay here. Besides, it's getting dark so it'll be dangerous to go out alone," Boris tried to reason.

"I've got my friend Amy, so we'll be fine. Thank you and good bye," Elena said as she rushed off to where Amy was.

"Miss Elena!" Amy called out as she saw her running towards her. Suddenly, Elena grabbed a hold of Amy's hand and began dragging her towards the park's entrance.

"C'mon, we'd better hurry back before more of those Shadow Creatures show up," was all Elena said, though she grumbled it under her breath from a previous annoyance. Amy looked back over her shoulder and saw Gowland and Boris Airay staring at them as they left.

~Scene Change (Wonderland Town)~

"Meeting these Role Holders is becoming more of a useless, tedious task rather than a reason to gain information," Elena huffed after she told Amy what had happened between her and the Role Holders.

"Well, there is one more Role Holder in the Amusement Park, but I doubt he would've been helpful. His name is Pierce Villiers, the Dormouse," Amy said.

"So I've met a Hare, then a cat, then there's supposed to be a mouse and a rabbit left. It's like this world has a fetish for anthropomorphic animals or something," Elena said. She stopped when she felt a small drop of water land on her head. "What the. . .?" she looked up and saw a multitude of dark clouds above, ready for a downpour. "Oh great, now it's going to rain. I hate the rain," she grumbled.

"Miss Elena, I believe it's best to find shelter before the rain begins," said Amy with a small shake in her voice.

"Yes, rain is a mess," Elena agreed. Looking around, she saw that everyone that was out were rushing inside as fast as they could. "Why is everyone so frantic? I admit that I hate rain and that it'll probably make me terribly sick, but I don't act like it'll kill me," she thought out loud.

"No, it's not the rain, but what's in it," Amy answered, already tugging on Elena's arm and running to the nearest building, an inn of sorts. The pace was slow enough for Elena to keep up, but it still taxed her health, especially when they'd spent that majority of their day walking around the Amusement Park. Halfway there, the clouds immediately let out a downpour and the girl's run quickened a bit.

~Scene Change (Wonderland Inn)~

Elena and Amy sat on open stools as they dried themselves off with towels graciously provided by the manager of the inn. After drying her hair, Elena stood up and looked out the window, which had a perfect view of the town square. "So what's supposed to be out there in the rain?" she asked out loud.

"Where ya been this whole time, lassie?" the manager, a plump old man, asked.

"Out," Elena answered dismissively, "Amy, you said that something's in this rain, something that everyone's obviously terrified of. So I ask again, 'what's supposed so be out there in the rain'?" Elena kept staring out the window, searching for anything that might be amiss.

"It's a creature. . .We're not even sure what it is. . ." Amy trailed off in uncertainty. Suddenly, loud barking echoed throughout the entire town. Peering through the thick rain and fog, Elena could see a gigantic shadow begin to form. It looked as if it were melting upwards from the ground. The shadowed form stretched its limbs out slowly, stretching itself out into the shape of a dog.

"What is that supposed to be?" Elena quietly asked, almost like a whisper, as she pressed her face against the window to try and see it clearer. She was about to unlock the window's latch, until a big hand halted her.

"Don't do that lassie," he seriously warned, staring out the window and at the creature. "That there's a Shadow Beast. They only come out on heavy downpours. Scary monsters they are, watch," he jutted his chin to indicate a drunken man coming out of an alleyway.

"It's always the drunks," Elena murmured as she carefully watched. The shadow dog turned its head to face the man, and began to lean its head down to him. The man, just noticing the dog, screamed and tried to flee. However, it was too late as the tip of the dog's nose touched the man's head and the man immediately dissipated into wisps of black smoke, leaving behind an object that Elena couldn't see from the distance. The shadow dog leaned lower, opening its mouth and taking whatever the man dropped into its jaws. It then did what most dogs would do with some meat, throwing it up in the air to catch it with its mouth to eat a bit of it and repeating the process. Elena could see that the object the man left behind was circular, but that was all she could make out of it.

"See? Wonderland's changin' in bad ways ever since that girl left. That's why you never go out in the rain. Never," the manager warned as he walked away from her. Elena didn't move, just stood still, watching the dog in shock.

Amy stood up and walked over by Elena's side, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. "Miss Elena, are you alright?" she softly asked.

"This place really is a world of animals," Elena commented out loud, still watching the dog. Suddenly, the dog raised its head in the air, ears perking up. Craning its head to the side, Elena could see that the dog had bright white eyes, like the man from before. The dog stopped moving once its eyes landed on Elena. Like a television screen, Elena felt her mind and senses immediately shut down, causing her to fall onto the hard wood floor with a loud thud, like a lifeless doll_._

* * *

**A/N - I am sorry for such a slow update, but I'm finally done with my finals and school! Even though I still have summer assignments, I can continue on with this story. Yay!**

**Leave a review if there's anything wrong with this chapter or your thoughts or if you have questions, to help me out. Thank you for reading!**

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**_-AnimeAngel = (1) You can, but I can't tell you much or it may spoil the story. (2) Maybe, I'm still planning that out.  
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	8. Author's Note

**Hey everyone, this is not a new chapter, but instead a notice. Recently, I've run into some problems so I won't be able to update new chapters for a while. For how long will I be on hiatus, I'm not sure. I know that some people are waiting for new chapters and I sincerely apologize that it'll be a while until I post another chapter. Thank you for reading. Sincerely, **_C4rd of Sp4de_


	9. Do Not Make Me an Enemy

_Disclaimer: I do not own Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice and its canon characters and ideas.__  
__Claimer: I do own this story, which includes plot and characters never introduced in __Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice_

* * *

**Chapter 8 - Do Not Make Me an Enemy**

~Scene Change (Elena's Dreams)~

Upon waking up, Elena saw the familiar setting of a pristine white room, with her in a cold white bed. It was her hospital room. Glancing over at the clock on her nightstand, it read '24:31'. "Was it all a dream?" she quietly whispered to herself. It seemed too real to be a dream, but she supposed that if someone was in a deep dream, then it'll be hard to distinguish between what's real and what's not. With that thought in mind, she began to shift in the bed in order to go back to sleep, but stopped as she felt her thigh hit something.

Reaching over to turn on the night lamp, she lifted the covers and saw a worn, leather-bound book with a clean golden lock and key attached. Gingerly picking it up in both hands, she could tell that someone had recently been through it by that state of the lock and key. Elena opened the book slowly, as if afraid it will fall apart in her hands, and flipped through the brown pages. A few dozen of the front pages were blank, but about half-way through the book were the daily entries. She began to skim through the entries in her head.

"_Dear Diary,  
Daddy says that I have to stay under constant watch and care from now on. He says that I'll be kept safe and nothing bad will happen to me. He says that I'll have new friends who will always visit me to make sure that I'm okay. I can't wait!"_

_"Dear Diary,  
I'm bored. I hate this room. I want to leave, but Daddy says it's for my own good that I stay here. Those 'friends' that Daddy talks about are all really old and stuffy and always saying things that I don't understand. I want to leave now please."_

_"Dear Diary,  
Daddy brought a beautiful woman when he came to visit. As usual, he didn't talk to me, but went straight to my 'friend' and started talking about really complicated stuff. The woman came to talk to me, but I didn't like her. She's annoying and fake."_

_"Dear Diary,  
Daddy married the woman. She says she's my 'mommy'. I still don't like her."_

_"To Journal,  
I don't want all these stupid women to be my 'mom', but dad doesn't care and I've already lost count, so I suppose I shouldn't either. I want my real mom, but dad doesn't like talking about her. He always leaves whenever I ask."_

_"To Journal,  
Dad finally brought me out of that dreaded room, but I didn't like it. Being forced into suffocating clothes and act polite for his boring and dull friends. I'd rather be in that room then at one of his parties."_

_"To Journal,  
I know father wishes to marry me off, but I could care less. The doctors say that I probably won't live any longer, so I'm already resigned to my fate. Oh well, back to reading."_

Reading over the entries, Elena could tell it was about her. She could see how over the years, she's grown more and more distant from anything and everything. Then, she realized something. "I've never kept a diary of journal of sorts," she quietly said to herself, flipping to the last page, which was blank. Slowly, dark ink lines began curving on the paper without any physical means. Elena waited for it to finish, holding her breath as she watched words form in perfect calligraphy cursive.

When the ink stopped, the paper read: "_Wake up, my sweet._"

~Scene Change (Elena's Bedroom)~

Elena awoke with a startled gasp, clutching the bed sheets at her side. Staring above at the ceiling for a bit, Elena' knew that she was back in her bedroom in Wonderland's prison. After a few more seconds, she slowly sat up and confirmed her suspicions as she looked around the room. "Blasted dreams in this blasted place," she muttered, shoving the covers off and standing to stretch. She stopped when she heard the door open, seeing Amy walk in with a silver tray of some breakfast.

"It's good that you are awake, Miss Elena. We were quite worried about you," Amy said as she set the tray down and began to spread cream cheese over the bagel.

"What happened? How did I get back in the prison?" Elena asked, sitting back down and taking the finished bagel to eat. She ripped half of it off and offered it to Amy.

"After you passed out, I asked a few people to go tell Joker what had happened while I tended to you. When they came back, Joker came with them and he carried you back here," she said, taking the ripped half of the bagel with a small 'thank you', and graciously eating it.

"But what about that dog, the 'Shadow Beast'?" asked Elena, taking another bite out of the bagel.

"It's gone. Shadow Beasts only come out during heavy rain," Amy answered with a mouthful of a bagel bite, to which Elena hummed and nodded.

The two of them ate in silence until Elena interrupted by asking, "Hey, is Joker okay with what happened right before we left?" She had to be wary of them from now on for her's and Amy's sake.

Amy nodded and shrugged. "He seems to be okay and not bothered at all." They continued to eat until there was nothing left on the silver tray, then left the room to go to the last place left in Wonderland, Hearts' Castle.

~Scene Change (Circus)~

Elena and Amy cautiously approached Joker as he monitored the performers. "Morning Joker," she greeted him with as much casualness she could force, which was actually very convincing.

Joker spun around and when his eyes landed on Elena, he smiled, though it seemed more like a grin to Elena. "Ah, good morning to you as well, my sweet. And Amy to," he nodded in Amy's direction and turned his eyes back Elena. There were a few seconds of tense silence between the trio.

"Okay, this silence in annoying," Elena broke the ice with an exasperated sigh. Crossing her arms over her chest and slightly raising a brow at Joker. "Are you angered over what I did the last time I was here?" she asked.

Joker just lightly chuckled at her expression. "No, of course not my sweet," he said with a sickeningly sweet smile that gave Elena little chills. The two were silent and stared at each other, as if having a silent conversation through their gazes. Finally, Joker faced Amy, though his smile faltered the tiniest bit. "I apologize Amy for locking you in that cage," he said with reluctance, to which Amy just silently nodded in thanks, then quickly turning back to Elena. Once his eyes were on Elena, his smile seemed a lot more thorough.

Elena slowly nodded. "Alright, well then let me apologize for stealing your key and lying those two employees you hired to guard the animal tent. Do you know where they are so that I may apologize to them as well?"

Joker though for a moment, then smiled again. "Oh, those two? They're not here anymore," he vaguely answered.

"'Not here anymore'?" Elena repeated his words as a question. "I thought they worked here since they had those clown costumes," she said, her gaze towards him turning into suspicion. She quickly turned to Amy, but she just shrugged and shook her head slightly from confusion.

"Well, not anymore," Joker happily answered. Elena could hear how his voice changed from a happy politeness to a childish happiness.

"Did you fire them or something just because I lied to them?" Elena asked.

"Please don't worry about it, my sweet," Joker coaxed. "They're gone already," he said with finality.

Elena swallowed hard as she looked at Joker, her suspicious gaze turning into a glare. "Amy, wait for me outside the tent," she calmly ordered slowly, still glaring at Joker. Amy jumped a little inside at the sudden change in Elena's demeanor and quickly scurried outside in silence.

"Was it really necessary for you to send her away like that?" Joker asked as his eyes followed Amy scurry off, then looked back at Elena. By now, his smile was gone as he as well noticed the sudden change in her demeanor.

"People usually don't say their workers are 'not here anymore' or are 'gone' and end it at that," Elena said, ignoring his question completely.

"Are you assuming that something happened to them? What if I fired them?" Joker challenged with a small scoff.

"If you were listening to me earlier, I actually did ask if you fired them or not, to which you clearly deflected. So yes, I am assuming that something happened to them." Elena was starting to get worried, her thoughts turning to a darker route as she works it out in her head.

"As I've said before, my sweet. Don't worry about it," Joker sighed with a smile, bending down to pat her head like one would do to a child. However, Elena quickly jerked away from his hand and stared at him in utter disbelief, undeniable disgust, and undisguised horror with wide eyes.

"Now I understand," she whispered. "You're dodging and deflecting answers by telling me not to worry. The way you word your question in a way that you don't involve yourself, when you asked 'are you assuming that something happened to them' whereas most others would ask 'are you assuming _I_ did something to them'," Elena paused to let the information sink. "You killed them," she finally whispered out.

Joker frowned and opened his mouth to say something, but closed it and resolved to staring at her instead. "And what makes you say that?" he asked in a hushed whisper, bending down to her eye level.

"'Well not anymore'," she repeated his words, once again ignoring him. "The way you said that. . ." By now, her stare turned into a full out glare, directed towards Joker, her breathing becoming slightly heavy. "You _enjoyed_ it," she whispered quietly, though the venom was still there.

Joker straightened himself to his full height, crossing his arms over his chest. "Well, it seems you're not as dumb as Alice," he commented.

"Why would you kill those men?" she spoke evenly, slowly articulating her words to express her anger. "Was disobeying an order enough to take a man's life? Two men at that."

Joker just smirked at her, creeping Elena a bit as she has never seen the jester smirk at all. "When you think about it, it was all your fault," he said with tiny traces of humor in his voice. "You tricked them into letting you into the tent when I specifically ordered them not to. So in retrospect, it was all. Your. Fault," he calmly said, punctuating the last words for effect. He watched in amusement as he saw Elena clench her teeth and fists. "Oh, and by the way," he spoke up, deciding to add one last blow, "Amy, or whatever name you gave that faceless, has told me your whole 'morality talk'. About how you won't intervene with our 'morality code', yet still try and protect those around you." He paused to give a scoff of laughter. "And yet you were the cause of the death of two men," he finished.

Elena menacingly glared at Joker with a an angry scowl. She knew he was right, in hindsight. If it weren't for her, the two men wouldn't be dead. They wouldn't have disobeyed orders if she hadn't told a lie. "Oh, you're close Joker. So very close," she breathed out.

Joker's smirk formed a frown as he raised a brow. "Oh? Enlighten me, my sweet," he said.

"To making me your enemy," she answered darkly. Her scowl slowly diminished and was replaced with the expression of dark promising.

Joker stared at her, clearly not expecting her answer. After running through it in his head a couple more times, he suddenly laughed. He laughed up to the sky, or tent's ceiling in this case, with a hand in his stomach to show he was having a grand old time. His laughs died down and he moved his free hand to wipe away some tears that collected from the corner of his eye. "An enemy?" he mocked.

"Laugh while you can Joker. In fact, keep laughing and underestimating me so that way you'll never be prepared for what is to come," she calmly said.

Joker's smile slowly turned to a serious expression as he watched Elena. Something wasn't right. She should be angry, emotional, like Alice. Yet here she is, calmly and openly declaring the possible beginnings of a battle, perhaps a war. "And what exactly do you plan to do?" he challenged.

"Oh, I don't know yet," she confessed, giving him a bitter smile. Then her smile turned to a serious straight line. "But I do know this. I am a being of knowledge and planning and those two combined can make one hell of a combination to bring down 'jokes' like you, Joker. Everything you've seen me do, well that was just child's play. I'll find out every secret this circus and prison are hiding and use it all to my advantage." Elena inwardly smirked when she heard Joker's breath quicken a bit, his posture turn stiff, and his fists clenching. Hmm, it seems that the tables have turned in her favor with just a few words on her part, which clearly Joker saw that. "I'll say it one more time, Joker. _Do not make me an enemy._" And with that, Elena turned on her heel and walked out of the circus tent, leaving a stunned Joker frozen for a second time.

~Scene Change (Outside Circus Grounds)~

Amy stared at the ground as she shifted from foot to foot, patiently waiting for Elena to come out. She looked up when she saw a shadow of a person on her feet and smiled when she saw it was Elena. However, the smile slowly turned to a concerned frown as she observed the face of her friend. Elena's eyes were downcast and her face was a mixture of anger, anguish, and guilt, though mostly guilt dominated her features. Without another word, Amy reached out and pulled Elena into a tight hug. Slowly and hesitantly, Elena returned the hug, realizing just how much she needed the comfort from her friend.

* * *

**A/N - I guess this means I'm back from my hiatus, though maybe temporarily. I honestly don't know. So I have a question for you, the readers. How do you think Joker's relationship with Elena will fare? Should she leave and never be enemies, or stay strong and stay with Joker?**

******Leave a review if there's anything wrong with this chapter or your thoughts or if you have questions, to help me out. Thank you for reading!**

**Reviewers  
**_-AnimeAngel = Well, Shadow Creatures are the inhabitants of Wonderland who were caught by the shadow and turned into a Shadow Creature. Shadow Beasts are the forming of the shadows into a large animal during a downpour. They are not related to the Afterimages, but are crucial to Elena's game. I never played Kingdom Hearts, so I don't know._  
_-austriantatious = (Chapter 7 review) The shadow men, known as Shadow Creatures, don't morph into the animals, the Shadow Beasts. They're two seperate entities. Thank you kindly support you've sent and inspiring this chapter!_  
_-Shadow Fox_


	10. Tiring and Dangerous Day

_Disclaimer: I do not own Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice and its canon characters and ideas.__  
__Claimer: I do own this story, which includes plot and characters never introduced in __Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice_

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**Chapter 9 - Tiring and Dangerous Day**

~Scene Change (Wonderland Town)~

"Mistress Ringleader would never had done something like that," Amy sighed out with a shake of her head as she and Elena walked through the town. They were heading towards Hearts Castle as it was the only place left. During the walk, Elena told Amy what happened between her and Joker. At first, Elena was a little surprised at Amy's reaction, or lack thereof, but quickly remembered of the type of society everyone in Wonderland grew up on, so she let it go. "Are you going to stay with Joker?" Amy asked.

Elena just shrugged and frowned. "I don't know. I really don't," she answered with a dejected sigh. They decided to speak of another topic as they neared the castle.

~Scene Change (Hearts Castle - Gates)~

Elena let out a light whisper at the sight of the castle. Not only was it enormous, but the design of hearts everywhere was just ridiculous. "Excuse me, we would like to see the queen," Elena said to one of the guards, who were dressed in card-designed suits.

"Do you have an appointment with the queen?" the guard asked.

"Hmm. . . no," Elena knew she should have expected no different. "But can you at least tell her the Foreigner was here to see her?" she politely asked. She didn't like how she was referred as such as it showed that she will never belong. Elena paused and blinked at the thought. "_Never belong? I don't even want to be here in the first place!"_ she thought with a vigorous shake of her head to rid the thought. She only stopped when Amy placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Are you alright, Miss Elena?" Amy asked in a whisper of concern.

Elena looked back at her and slightly smiled. "I'm fine, sorry for worrying you," she whispered back before turning her attention back to the guards, her smile gone by then.

"F-Foreigner? You're the new foreigner everyone is talking about?" the guard hesitated.

"Yes, I suppose I am," Elena nodded.

The guards glanced at each other and turned back to Elena and Amy. "The queen has requested to meet the Foreigner should she come to the castle," one of them stated. "If you could please follow me to talk to the queen," the second said, gesturing for both of them to come inside after opening the gate. Amy and Elena glanced at each other, shrugged, and followed the guard inside.

~Scene Change (Hearts Castle - Throne Room)~

"Your Majesty!" the escorting guard respectfully called out with a bow once they reached the center of the throne room. Amy did the same, but Elena stood still to study the woman before her.

She was a beautiful and regal woman, no doubt, with her deep amethyst eyes, purple hair that was tightly curled to what looked like six individual springs, and a small beauty mark on her chin. She wore a low-cut red dress with a heart-shaped upstanding cape behind her head, with small purple ruffles at the end, and outer corset and strings that were black. Her shoulder was partially covered by thick red fabric that puffed outward, but was tied by a little black bow and the rest of the sleeve underneath the bow was normal and wide, with a purple folds and hearts at the end. Her large skirts were many overlapping layers of red fabric that had purple ruffles with a line of black hearts at the bottom. On her head was a small tilting crown, golden and red, that had a cross and heart at the top. Around her neck was a small black tie that had a golden heart hanging off the front. She held a thin, golden scepter, the top was in the same fashion as her crown and tied off with a thin black ribbon.

"The Foreigner has come to visit the castle and I have brought her to you as you have requested!" the guard announced. The queen smiled and stood from her velvet red, heart-shaped thrown to gracefully step down the steps and inspect Elena. As Elena watched her movements, she couldn't help but notice something about it. The way she held herself high with pride and made it seem effortless, the way her eyes cautiously eyed her despite the smile on her face, the way she moved with a certain defined grace.

"You may leave now," the queen dismissed the guard, who bowed and rushed out in a hurry. "Oh, aren't you a cute Foreigner?" she mused as she looked at Elena. "We are Vivaldi, queen of Hearts Castle and territory. You may call us by simply Vivaldi," she introduced. Vivaldi turned her gaze towards Amy and her smile faltered in the slightest. "Who are you, may we ask?" she inquired.

"M-my name is A-Amy, your majesty," Amy shakily introduced. "E-escort and friend of M-Miss Elena." She gestured towards Elena and bowed deeply while Elena strongly nodded in confirmation.

"We see," Vivaldi said, her smile coming back to her. "A friend of the Foreigner is a friend of ours." She clasped her hands together and a few faceless maids came up behind her. "Come, we must celebrate this meeting over tea," she invited.

Elena looked over at Amy, who just shrugged a bit, then back at Vivaldi. "Very well then," she accepted. The maids scurried off to perform their duties while Vivaldi led the two girls out to the back gardens.

~Scene Change (Hearts Castle - Rose Gardens)~

"Well, this is definitely something," Elena breathed out as she looked around the roses. Each and every one of them were a bright and healthy red color, all in full bloom. It was definitely a beautiful sight to behold.

"We're glad you think so," Vivaldi said with a smile as she sipped at her black tea.

Elena carefully watched her and realized something. "_They don't look like each other, sure, but the way they act like each other naturally is uncanny,_" she thought as she drank her tea as well.

"Please tell us your name, Foreigner. We'd hate to have to recall you as 'Foreigner' every time we meet," Vivaldi requested.

"Elena, Miss Vivaldi," Elena said politely.

"Oh, you're so polite," Vivaldi chuckled.

"Oh! Breakfast is laid out!" a cheerful voice called out from the side. Everyone turned to see a man stepping out of the tall bushes and making his way to the table. Elena's eyes wandered his figure to study and observe him. He wore a long red coat that was outlined in silver at his lapels and folded shoulder sleeves. On each arm he had two small black belts with golden buckles, one on his forearms the other on his upper arm. On the left side of his coat was a striped red symbol with the letter 'A' and a heart on it. With the coat's black belt hanging from the loops and the buttons waist-down were undone, Elena could see that the man had a black shirt under the coat, outlined in red. He had long black slacks, black shoes covered by a silver leg wrap from his heel to his knee. Elena's eyes drifted from his short brown hair and blood red eyes to his blade with a golden and red handle and a heart at the top.

"You're late again, Knight," Vivaldi gritted out, glaring at him as he made his way to the table. The man just laughed in a wholehearted nature and grabbed a cookie off the table. As Elena studied him, she couldn't help but feel something was off about him. Despite his smiling face, the hand on his sword would sometimes twitch and the tips of his feet sometimes tapped unconsciously before stopping. The man continued eating happily, but stopped when his eyes landed on Elena.

"Hey, I didn't know you invited a cutie for breakfast," the man hummed out, leaning in towards Elena's face as if to get a closer look. "Don't tell me, are you the new Foreigner?" the man asked with a grin.

"Yes, my name is Elena and this is my friend Amy," Elena introduced, slightly leaning back to get away from him, obviously uncomfortable with the close contact. However, the man just kept leaning inward. Soon, Elena had her back pressed against Amy's side, who was leaning over so much that she had to hold on to the table and station herself by planting her feet on the ground, and the man practically hovering over Elena with the same smile on his lips, his arms trapping her between the table and her chair. "You know it's rude to not introduce yourself." Elena chided, yet she cannot stop the growing blush on her cheeks from their close proximity.

"Knight!" Vivaldi yelled out, slamming her tea cup on the table and successfully getting everyone's attention. "You will leave Elena alone at once or it will be your head rolling from your shoulders!" she threatened.

"Alright, alright," the man said with a smile and carefree attitude as he stood straight. "Well, I'm Ace, Knight of Hearts Castle," he introduced himself to Elena and Amy as he continued eating his unfinished cookie.

"Yes, nice to meet you, Mister Ace," Elena spoke slowly with caution. There was something about this man that didn't seem right, or safe, to her. Ace just smiled some more, if possible, and took a seat nearest to Elena. "Right then," Elena quietly whispered to herself, then turned her attention back to Vivaldi.

"Tell us, Elena. Do you enjoy being here in Wonderland?" Vivaldi asked, trying to start a conversation.

"It's a different experience," Elena carefully spoke. "I've never had this much freedom back in my world, I can't get used to it as I will have to leave soon."

Vivaldi frowned at the last part of her sentence, but decided to ignore it for now. "Oh? Please, elaborate on your new found freedom," Vivaldi requested.

"Um well. . ." Elena hesitated for a moment, trying to think of the right words to use. "I always stayed in my room because my father is. . . worried. . . for my health," she vaguely answered.

"Sounds like a good father! You must have liked him a lot!" Ace chimed in, as if not wanting to be ignored.

"I. . . respected and. . . tolerated him. . ." Elena felt rather awkward talking about her father, especially after such a long time away from him or anyone else in her world.

"Then surely there is another reason why you wish to return to your world so quickly since your relationship with your father seems to be rather strained, by your answer," Vivaldi pressed on. She wanted to see what it was that made Elena want to leave Wonderland, so that perhaps she could provide whatever Elena needed or wanted once she knew. Maybe then, she'll be so willing to stay. She might even be able to help Wonderland.

"I have. . . responsibilities and obligations," Elena answered carefully, not liking the direction Vivaldi was taking this conversation. She could see what Vivaldi was trying to do, make her stay by countering her reasons to go.

Vivaldi raised a brow and frowned at her answer. "Surely you must have family or friends to go back to, yes?" she asked.

Elena opened her mouth a little, but closed it and turned her gaze down to her cold tea. Friends? Family? She had no one close enough in her world to consider someone as such, but just that wasn't enough to stop her from going back to her world. "_Right?_" her mind second guessed herself. Elena glanced at Amy, silently asking her to get her out of this uncomfortable conversation.

"Your highness!" Amy called out after seeing Elena's request, successfully getting everyone's attention. "If I may, Elena and I must leave now before it gets dark," she said.

"_How did I not notice that? That conversation has really taken up all my attention,_" Elena thought as she looked up at the sky and already it was late evening.

"May we inquire to stay for that night?" Vivaldi asked.

"Yeah! You should really stay, it'll be fun!" Ace called out from his seat. Elena looked at him, having forgotten he was there the whole time.

"No, we'd better return to the circus before Joker gets mad," Elena said, tearing her gaze away from Ace. Unlike everyone else who acted to that name, Ace just continued smiling. Something was seriously off about that man, but she wasn't about to take any chances.

Vivaldi's eyes narrowed as she clenched the handle of her tea cup. "So it's true that you're staying with that vile monster, Joker," she said to herself through gritted teeth.

"Yes, we are," Elena confirmed as she and Amy stood. "We thank you for the tea and the kind hospitality you have shown us," she thanked with a small curtsy.

"Very well," Vivaldi reluctantly resigned with a sigh. "We will have an escort bring you safely over to the circus."

"Alright, let's get going Elena," Ace said as he stood up.

"Not you, you bumbling Knight! You will get the poor girls lost!" Vivaldi slammed her fist on the table, then exhaled a breath and focused on Elena and Amy. "We will send White to go along with you to ensure that you make it to the circus on time and safely. He will meet you at the front gates of the castle," she said as she dismissed the maids to fetch the man.

"We thank you for your hospitality, the delicious tea and snacks, and an escort Miss Vivaldi," said Elena in a formal voice with a small bow of her head.

"Yes, it was quite nice to get to know each other," Amy added with a full bow.

"You're welcome," Vivaldi said with a smile. "It was nice for us to learn about you." Elena's lips twitched into a tight line as she looked at Vivaldi's smile. Without another word, she quickly turned away and left.

"Goodbye, your majesty," Amy quickly said before rushing over to Elena.

~Scene Change (Hearts Castle - Front Gates)~

"Miss Elena, wait!" Amy called out as she rushed to Elena, who continued walking to the front gate. "Why are you in such a rush?" she asked in concern as she fell into step with Elena.

"I just want to leave," Elena rushed out.

"Miss Elena!" Amy shouted, grabbing her upper arm and forcing her to stop. Elena turned around to face Amy in slight surprise. "What's wrong?" she quietly asked.

Elena was silent for a moment, before sighing with an answer, "That conversation with Miss Vivaldi. It. . . unnerved me." She shook her head as she gently pulled her arm back and turned to look to the side bushes.

Amy looked at Elena, her lips in a tight line. "How so?" she questioned.

"It. . ." Elena trailed off, wondering how to answer the question. "I just didn't like the way she tried to find reasons for me to stay in Wonderland," she answered with a sigh.

Amy nodded and quietly asked, "So was her conversation successful?"

Elena looked at Amy and saw the trembling frown on her face. "No, it actually reminded me that I have no place here in Wonderland. No one's interested in _who_ I am, just _what_ I am. The "Foreigner", someone who's different from this society," she said almost bitterly. It wasn't the full answer as the conversation made her realize a few very important things about her own situation, but Elena kept her mouth shut on that one.

Amy nodded again, but Elena noticed that it was a stronger nod this time, and smiled. "That's good. Can't have you backing out of our promise now, can we?" she joked, causing a small smile to form on Elena's face.

"Nope," she answered. They continued to walk towards the gate, but stopped to see a tall man with snow white hair, ruby red eyes, and large white rabbit ears standing at the gate, talking one of the guards on duty. He wore a red plait waist coat with pink buttons and a light pink band on his upper right arm. He had an undershirt of the same pink color, trimmed in a dark gold color, with a red tie that had the design of half a large clock on the side. As far as clocks go, the man had a large golden clock hanging on his left hip, held up by a golden chain that went up to his right shoulder. He seemed to have regular brown slacks and dark brown shoes with red soles. "Excuse me, are you Mister White?" Elena asked him as she and Amy walked to the man.

The man in question turned to face the two girls and frowned. "What took you so long? The Queen had ordered me to take you back to the circus," he said and an annoyed and bitter tone, ignoring Elena's question.

"Yeah, I guess you are," Elena sarcastically muttered under her breath. The two girls walked forward with the intention of leaving, but stopped and turned around at the sound of Peter's voice.

"Wait? Why is a _faceless _coming along?" he asked, jabbing a gloved finger at Amy's direction, who flinched at his harsh tone and words.

"Excuse me, Mister White," Elena sternly began as she stepped up to him, stopping right in front of him to glare into his eyes. If not for the situation, it would be a rather comical sight for bystanders to see. A tiny woman, who only came up to the man's chest, glaring at the man while he glared back, with her fists at her sides and the man's hands on his hip. Their heads were at a near 180 degrees just to look each other in the eyes. "But that 'faceless' coming along would be my good friend Amy, and it would be very good if you can stop being such a pompous and prejudiced man just because you have eyes and do the task that Miss Vivaldi has requested you to do," she spoke slowly. "In fact, you may very well go back inside that castle right now and tell your queen that you did your job while Amy and I make our way back to the circus," she challenged. They glared at each other for a moment more, until Peter made the move of brushing past her and towards the town.

"Hurry up before it gets dark," was all he said before walking right along. Elena and Amy just looked at each other, then followed Peter onward.

~Scene Change (Circus)~

Peter abruptly stopped at the edge of the circus. "Here we are," he bit out, but didn't turn to look at them. Instead, he glared at the main tent of the circus.

Elena quietly sighed to herself, just wanting to get away from the man and his horrible attitude. "Well, thank you-" she was cut off when Peter suddenly turned around with a brown and golden pistol pointed in the center of her forehead. "Or not," she sarcastically murmured, taking a small step back and staring down the barrel of the gun.

"Listen here, you little pest," he growled out. "I don't know how or why you're in Wonderland, but know this. You will _never _replace my dear Alice, so don't even try," he threatened.

Elena blankly stared at the gun then to Peter, calmly thinking to herself, "_It seems this guy is more sensitive about Miss Liddell then the rest. Now I can't ask him questions about her. Shame, since Mister Gottschalk told me he was the one who brings people to Wonderland._" Looking back at the gun, Elena noticed something was off. "You're not going to shoot me, you just want to threaten me," she declared.

Peter's eyes narrowed a bit more. "Oh? And what makes you say that?" he challenged, wrapping a finger around the trigger.

Elena was not deterred by his action and instead continued looking at Peter calmly. "The hammer isn't even pulled back," she stated, reaching up and pushing the hammer back. "There, now it is."

Peter just stared at the girl, his face forming to a neutral glare. He then sighed and lowered his arm, turning his gun back to the golden clock. "You're right when you said that I wasn't going to shoot you because I intentionally left the hammer alone. Now why did you push it back when I still had my gun on you with my finger at the trigger?" he asked.

"You had a choice. Earlier, I gave you the option of just going back to the castle and not bother with me and Amy, yet you chose to come along with us. I don't think you would waste all that time to get me here just to shoot me when you could have done so back at the castle," Elena answered with a shrug.

"I could have just wanted you away from the Queen so that I won't get in trouble, should I have chosen to shoot you," Peter argued, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Yes, that was a high possibility I'll admit. However, neither Miss Vivaldi nor Mister Ace were around, and with you being a Role Holder, you could have easily shot me and ordered the surrounding guards to lie to Miss Vivaldi that Amy and I were escorted back in the circus. It was a risky and deadly choice for the both me and Amy," Elena argued back.

Peter stared at the girl before asking out, "Why? Why would you risk your life despite the odds? I could shoot you now and be done with it."

Elena shrugged. "Because you don't seem like that kind of person. You seem to be. . ." Elena paused as the words "_hopelessly and foolishly in 'love' with Alice Liddell, a depressing person caught up in the false security of_ _'love', a bitter and prejudiced man who is unstable without this 'love' of yours,_"finished the sentence in her mind. ". . . someone who is just sad, but not angry enough to fire a gun at a person. But then again, you are rather biased against people with no eyes, so maybe you won't shoot someone like me, a Foreigner," Elena finally continued.

Peter raised a brow and snorted out sarcastically, "Thanks for your evaluation of me."

"Well, I thank you again for escorting me and Amy back to the circus and not shooting us, Mister White," she thanked again. Elena stood for only a second, as if expecting him to say something, but walked past him when he didn't. Amy looked between Peter and Elena for a brief second before scurrying off to follow Elena to the circus. Peter turned his head to watch the girl, whom he thought a cold enigma, disappear before turning back around and walking back to the castle.

~Scene Change (Circus - Main Tent)~

Amy peered into the tent and carefully looked around. "The coast is clear, Miss Elena. Master Joker is no where in sight," she whispered over her shoulder before entering into the tent, followed by Elena close behind.

"Good, I don't think I'm ready to deal with him at the moment," she huffed out. "I'll deal with him someday, but not today."

"It was amazing what you did with Peter White. He's one of the most dangerous Role Holders in Wonderland," Amy praised as they walked towards the prison entry in the tent.

"Considering there are only about fifteen Role Holders, most of whom are rather into violence and weaponry, that's not saying much," Elena simply said.

"Yes, but Peter is known to shoot others in his rage and even annoyance. But it was amazing to see you as cool headed as always, despite the situation," said Amy.

"Like I said earlier, it was a risky decision to push that hammer back while his gun was still trained on me. I wasn't completely sure whether or not he would fire," Elena truthfully answered, releasing a tired sigh. "And about my 'cool head', as you called it, it's important to have a clear mind wherever you are. That way, you'll know the best possible options most beneficial to you and perhaps those around you," she advised.

"Hmm. . . Well, I hope nothing too bad will happen to us that'll make you lose your clear head," Amy said in thought.

Elena stopped and looked at the prison entry, which was right in front of them "I don't think that point in time is too far away," she muttered as she stared at the door. She then turned to Amy and said, "Hey Amy, why don't you stay up here just in case both Jokers are down there. If you see Joker up here, try acting casual and just do your job."

"But what if they are down there, what will you do?" Amy worriedly asked.

Elena took in a deep breath and let it all out. "I'll just have to wing it, I guess," she answered before stepping through the door.

~Scene Change (Prison)~

"_So far, so good,_" Elena thought as she walked through the halls of the prison, keeping a careful eye out for either side of Joker. The silence which Elena found rather comfortable continued on, until. . .

"I was wondering when you'll get back," a deep voice calmly said behind her, causing her to slightly jump and swiftly turn around. Standing there, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest was the warden Joker. "I was wondering if you would run off because of the little incident," Joker said, pushing himself off the wall and sauntering over to Elena.

"Technically you didn't threaten me nor did you make me an enemy. I just said you were close to becoming one," Elena answered after calming her slightly racing heart.

"I see," Joker answered. "You seem so certain that we'll let you stay."

"If you don't want me to stay, then tell me now and I'll gather my things and head on out," Elena remarked.

"No, it's not that." Joker paused for a moment, as if contemplating his next words. "You made me, well the clown freak really, apologize to that faceless girl," he finally said.

"Her name's Amy, get it right," she calmly stated, though Joker heard the biting edge to it. "And I noticed that you're not cussing," she noted.

"Whatever," he growled out, looking away. Even with Elena's observant eyes, she couldn't tell if he was blushing or not. Joker looked back at her and sighed. "What I meant to say was you're already changing Wonderland from what that whore left it to be. So yeah. . ." he trailed off, looking away again while awkwardly scratching the back of his neck.

Elena studied him carefully."You know," she began, calling his attention back to her, "I would actually believe your sincerity that you're opening up to me, if it weren't for that walkie-talkie mask on your hip, with its mouth open as if your jester side were listening in," she retorted before turning on her heel and walking away.

The warden watched as she disappeared around the corner and out of earshot. "Sh*t," the warden bit out. "She's hell of a lot smarter then I thought," he muttered.

"Now now Joker, it's not good to underestimate my sweet," the same voice chided in. The warden turned around and saw the jester walking up to him.

"Che!" the warden clicked his tongue, "Why the f*ck do you keep calling her your 'sweet'? With that cold personality of hers, that b*tch is anything but 'sweet'!"

The jester just chuckled, answering with a shrug, "I don't know. It's like an impulse really, not that I mind it."

"Whatever!" the warden exclaimed in dismissal, throwing a hand towards the jester's face as if to swat him away. "Because of your royal f*ck-up, she'll want to leave soon and then we'll lose our toy!" he angrily shouted in the jester's face.

However, the jester just chuckled at the warden's childish complaining. "Oh, I'm not so sure about that. It seems that we have more than enough "leverage" to keep her here," he slyly said with a smirk on his face as his gaze went to the path Elena had disappeared from them.

~Scene Change (Prison - Elena's Bedroom)~

As soon as Elena entered her room, she flopped down on the bed, letting her limbs stretch out away from her. Heaving a sigh, she turned over on her back and blankly stared up at the ceiling, deep in thought.

"_Why did I come back here when it's already dangerous as it is? I want to leave, but I can't leave Amy and knowing her, her loyalty to this 'Ringleader' won't allow her to leave the circus while she's here in Wonderland. I'm going to have to watch over our backs from now on when we're here. Also, the conversation I had with Miss Vivaldi was upsetting enough as it is, I just wanted to get out of there, d*mn the place where I would end up as long as I'm not having that conversation again. I've met the Role Holders, now what am I supposed to do? Keep talking with them until I can leave? But I don't even like them! Some of them are okay-ish, if I'm being nice with my words, most of them I just don't want to be acquainted with!_"

Elena reached into her pocket and pulled out the vial, which had obtained a few tiny drops of liquid since she last looked at it. Placing it on the night stand and turning to her side, Elena closed her eyes, wanting some sleep after this tiring and dangerous day. The last thing she thought of was how the next day may turn out to be, before going to sleep.

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**A/N - Joker, what are you planning? Since the majority wanted Elena to stay with Joker, she did. Now that Elena's met most of the Role Holders (I love Pierce, but he's just going to have to wait), and apparently doesn't like most of them, how will her relationship with the other Role Holders fare out? Obviously, this will be the point where the romance part of the story begins (which, let me warn you now, will be gradual), so who should she meet first? What do you think Elena really thought of the conversation with Vivaldi? What do you think, my dear readers?**

**********By the way, if you look at my profile, I have put up a small profiling of my OCs in this story, which will be updated accordingly. Leave a review if there's anything wrong with this chapter or your thoughts or if you have questions, to help me out. Thank you for reading!**

**Reviewers  
**_-austriantatious_  
_-Kumira_  
_-In The Forest_  
_-AnimeAngel_

**Favorited **(Sorry if I didn't post you guys in the last chapter, I'll be putting you in this chapter)  
_-AlexusUzumaki_  
_-XxSayaKeikokuRyuuxX_

**Followers**(Sorry if I didn't post you guys in the last chapter, I'll be putting you in this chapter)  
_-In The Forest_  
_-Kumira  
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__-XxSayaKeikokuRyuuxX  
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__-xXChaoticOrderXx__  
_


	11. Talking Over the Campfire

_Disclaimer: I do not own Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice and its canon characters and ideas.__  
__Claimer: I do own this story, which includes plot and characters never introduced in __Joker/Clover/Heart no Kuni no Alice_

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**Chapter 10 - Talking Over the Campfire**

~Scene Change (Elena's Dreams)~

Elena opened her eyes to see a grand entrance hall below her. The room was covered in pristine white marble with Greek-styled columns spaced out along the walls. To her sides were a set of stone staircases, with black rose designed railing, slightly curling inward to the center of the room. The front door was a dark oak color with stained glass windows in the center.

Through the door, she could see a looming shadow on the other side, constantly pounding a fist against the door. The heavy rains of a great thunderstorm constantly slapped against the door. The flashes of lightening gave the stranger on the other side a more distinct and frightening appearance as the clashes of thunder that followed afterwards resounded against the grand walls of the entrance hall. Behind her, she could barely make out the sound of a child's cry.

Elena wanted to investigate the child's cry rather than the person on the other side, but she found that she had no movement whatsoever when she began to descend the stairs in a gradual manner. She felt like this was someone else's memory or an echo of it, else she would have clearly remembered a creepy night like this. The closer she got to the door, the sound of the child's cries grew closer and louder.

Right now, she was standing right in front of the door and the pounding of the person's fist against the door stopped. Her hand reached out to open the door, allowing the rain droplets to hit her and drench her. On the other side of the door was pitch blackness and it seemed that all was still for a moment, save for the distant cries of the child. Suddenly, an enormous beefy hand shot out to her face and the child's cries turned into desperate shrieks that pierced through the walls. This was all Elena could process in her mind before blacking out.

~Scene Change (Prison - Elena's Bedroom)~

In a cold sweat, Elena shot straight out of bed and bent over, coughing uncontrollably. She put a hand over her heart, which was beating erratically and abnormally to the point where her vision was becoming blurry from the lack of oxygen and the tears the formed in her eyes, cascading down her cheeks, and her mind was scattered and racing in a fuzzy pace, as if it would help calm her down. She continued coughing and hacking violently, desperately trying to gasp for more air between coughs, her saliva on the silken covers of the bed. This continued on for several more minutes, until her coughs were beginning to die down gradually. Elena flopped back down on the bed as she heavily breathed for air once her coughs and tears had completely subsided. She laid there for a while, just staring at the ceiling, her mind blank. After a while, she hastily got up, first using the covers to sloppily wipe her face then unceremoniously throwing them of her, quick to rush out of the room.

~Scene Change (Prison)~

Elena wandered aimlessly around the empty prison halls, thinking about the dream she just had as her fingers tried to comb through her messy and tangled hair. This was the only dream so far in Wonderland that had utterly terrified and disturbed her, so much that it nearly killed her "_I hope I don't have another dream like that,_" she prayed in her mind with a tired sigh. Turning the corner, she immediately stopped and choked out a gasp of fear for there in front of her was an unnaturally shadowed figure, a few of them really, looming over the prison cages. She began to slowly back away, but couldn't go that much further when she hit what seemed to be a hard wall. When a pair of big hands grasped onto her forearms, Elena jumped and sucked in a gasp of air as her heart rate began to speed.

"Hey Elena!" a cheery and familiar voice greeted. Elena leaned her head backwards and saw that it was Ace, who had his usual cheery smile as he stared down at her.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" she asked out in a whisper with a tiny quiver in her voice.

"Well, good morning to you to," he laughed out. "Hey, why are you whispering?" he later asked with a raised brow. Without saying anything, Elena pointed to the shadow figures that swiftly moved form cell to cell. Ace followed the direction of the finger and let out a hearty laugh at what he saw. "You mean the Afterimages?" he asked, looking back down at Elena.

"Afterimages? Aren't those those Shadow Creatures or something?" Elena asked back, the quiver in her voice no longer there.

Ace shook his head and let go of Elena, allowing her to turn around and face him. "No, Afterimages clean up the dead bodies in Wonderland. The way to tell them apart is that the Afterimages are more of blobs of shadows than the shape of an actual person," Ace informed her.

Elena looked over her shoulder and saw the Afterimages leaving the hall. "Okay," she mused with a single slow nod of her head. Turning back to Ace, her brow raised at his new attire, a gray suit with a black cap and black thigh boots. "You still haven't answered my question, what are you doing here?" she asked again.

"Actually, I also work as a warden here at the prison when I'm not doing anything as a Knight," Ace informed with a laugh. His laughing quickly died down as he actually saw Elena's face for the first time. Her eyes were red and slightly puffy, her cheeks had a thin sheet of water, and her hair and attire were just messy, tangled, and bent out of shape. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked with a bit of concern.

The memory of what happened before cause Elena to slightly flinch. "Nothing, I'm fine," she murmured, subconsciously combing a hand through her hair.

Ace stared at her for a moment with calculating eyes, then grinned down at her, hooking an arm around her's. "I know what you need. A good old fashioned camping trip!" he happily exclaimed, already dragging her to the prison exit.

"Wait! Don't you need to do your job?" Elena huffed out. She tried to pull her arm out of Ace's grip and plant her feet firmly on the ground, but the man was not bothered by the slightest and Elena nearly tripped over her own feet a few times before she gave up.

~Scene Change (Circus)~

"Miss Elena!" Amy called out, running over to her as she saw her being taken away by Ace.

"Amy!" Elena called back, harshly tugging on Ace's arm. She noticed that Amy was in a blue-and-gold stripped typical clown costume instead of her casual clothing.

"Hey, why are you stopping me?" Ace questioned with joking pout. Actually stopping, he looked over and saw Amy heading towards them. "Huh, who're you?" he asked Amy.

"It's Amy, Mister Ace," Amy politely answered, giving a small curtsy. "I'm Miss Elena's friend and designated escort. I was with her during the tea party last time period," she informed him.

Ace looked at her for a moment, trying to remember. "Hmm, nope. I don't remember," he thought out loud. "But hey, since Joker assigned you as her escort, does that mean you're coming camping with us?" he asked.

Amy looked over at Elena, who just shrugged and shook her head in an "I don't know what this man is thinking" manner. "Actually, Miss Elena, Joker has requested me to stay and practice the acrobat performance for the upcoming show for all Role Holders," Amy sadly sighed out.

"Why? Are they forced to come or something?" Elena asked.

"Yep," Ace answered, popping out the 'p'. "Not only the circus performances, but also the seasonal balls and meetings and other stuff," Ace continued, making a slight grimace at the mention of the events. "It's part of the rules of the Game, that all Role Holders must attend these things at least once a season."

"Well, it's nice to know that I'm not the only one being screwed over by Wonderland's Game," Elena sarcastically replied. "So I guess I'm staying here with you, Amy. Sorry Mister Ace," even though Elena didn't sound sorry at all. She tried to pull her arm out of his grip, but Ace just pulled her back to his chest.

"Come on, Ellie," Ace whined out, "You said you'll go camping with me!"

"I have never expressed the want to go camping at all," Elena retorted. "And why are you calling me 'Ellie'? My name is Elena."

Ace just smiled and laughed. "'Cause 'Ellie' is a lot easier to say! Now come on before it gets dark out!" Ace began to tug Elena away as Elena tried to tug herself back.

Amy watched in amusement at the scene between the two since she found it funny to say the least. There was Ace, being a foolishly joyous and energetic man, arguing with Elena, a logical and calm girl who is retorting back with a rather childlike-anger manner. "I think it'll be nice to go outside on a camping trip to get some fresh air, Miss Elena. It's not good to stay cooped up here in the circus," Amy chided her like a mother.

"See! Even the escort agrees with me!" Ace laughed out. "Let's go!" he exclaimed, throwing Elena over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and walking away.

"Wait!" Elena yelled out, trying to squirm her way out of Ace's hold.

"Have fun camping! I'll tell Master Joker where you went off to," Amy said with a small wave and smile.

Elena's head snapped up at that. "Hey! Remember to always be careful around him, don't let him surprise you!" Elena yelled out as she and Ace disappeared through the open flap of the tent.

Amy stood there staring at the tent flap before briskly turning around on her heel and skipping away to continue her work. "Those two make an odd pair," she giggled out.

~Scene Change (Forest)~  
_~Time Change (Evening)~_

As Ace walked onward energetically, already dressed in his Knight's uniform, Elena trudged her feet to keep up. "How much longer are we going to keep walking?" Elena asked with a slight amount of irritation and tiredness. "Look, it's already evening," she pointed out.

"But it hasn't even been that long, an hour at most," Ace responded.

"Stupid time changes," Elena muttered under her breath. "Can we at least go back before it gets too dark outside?" she asked.

"Why? Afraid of the dark?" Ace teased her with a grin.

"No, I just don't want to meet what's lurking in the shadows," Elena retorted, rolling her eyes at his teasing.

Ace looked back at her and smiled. He bent down to her height, placing a hand on his knee and the other reaching up and poking Elena's cheek. "You know Ellie, you're pretty cute when you pout," he chuckled.

"Don't treat me like I'm a child. And for the last time, my name is 'Elena', not 'Ellie'," she muttered, sending a small glare his way as she swatted his hand from her face. Suddenly, the forest turned dark and Elena looked at the sky, which now held the moon and stars. "Great, now it's dark and we're in the middle of the forest with no directions whatsoever," Elena said.

"Well, this is supposed to be a camping trip, hence we're supposed to be in the middle of the forest," Ace calmly replied.

"With those Shadow Creatures around, how can you be so calm about-" Elena abruptly stopped when she turned to face Ace, who had a tent set up and was working on a fire already.

Ace looked up from his fire and raised a brow, asking "Yes?" with a smile.

Elena took a moment to think is she should ask where he got the tent, but figured that he hid it in that long coat of his. "I don't suppose you have any food with you," she answered, moving to stand next to where Ace sat.

"Course I have food," Ace said, pulling out a bag of chocolates, crackers, and marshmallows. "It's always good to be prepared for a camping trip." He patted the ground next to him with a smile, gesturing her to sit down with him. Elena did so, slowly moving down to sit straight while cautiously looking around the darkened woods. "The shadows won't be able to reach through the light from the fire and if a Shadow Creature comes, then we'll be able to hear it," Ace tried to reassure her.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," Elena murmured in response, but she still wasn't reassured. In fact, she felt a little bit more suspicious of him since he never mentioned that he would help her should a Shadow Creature, or anything that might be hostile, come. "Hey, what are you making?" Elena asked, tearing herself away from her thoughts and focusing on the food he had in his hand. It was a melted marshmallow, chocolate, sandwiched between crackers.

"It's called a 'smore'. Haven't you ever had one before?" Ace skeptically asked.

"No, and I don't think I want to try it. It looks a little to sweet for me," Elena said.

"Well, it's either this or an animal from these woods," Ace spoke through a mouthful of his smore.

"I can't have a cracker instead?" Elena asked with a raised brow.

"Nope! That's not camping tradition if you also have marshmallows and chocolates on hand," Ace replied.

"Okay, I guess I'll have a 'smore'," she resigned, using air quotations on the word. Elena strangely felt like an older figure to a child, that child being Ace, who was telling her how to do something because it was the "only right way" in the child's mind. She followed what Ace was doing and made her own smore in no time. Eyeing the sweet treat warily, she reluctantly took a bite out of it and immediately suppressed the urge to grimace from the high amounts of sugar in the small snack.

"So? How is it?" Ace inquired.

"It's a little too sweet for me. It'll be better with either the chocolate or the marshmallow, but not both," Elena truthfully answered after finishing her smore.

"Well, I guess I tried," Ace said dejectedly, scratching the back of his neck.

Elena glanced at him, her lips pressed in a tight line. "It's not your fault," she reassured with a small sigh. "I didn't tell you that I don't prefer sweet things, especially at such a late hour."

"Well, I guess that means that you can have the crackers instead," Ace said, handing her the bag of crackers and smiling. Elena noticed how the smile seemed softer and creased his eyes slightly, unlike his childlike and over-enthusiastic grins he gave.

"Thanks," Elena softly replied, taking the bag and munching on the crackers. The two ate in comfortable silence over the fire, until Elena broke the ice by saying, "Maybe this camping idea of yours wasn't so bad after all."

"Really?" Ace asked in childlike enthusiasm.

Elena nodded, turning her head upwards. She hugged her knees to her chest and leaned her torso forward slightly."Yeah. Just siting here with a warm fire on a chilly night, the feel of a cool breeze, the sounds of the wind whistling through the leaves, the chirping of the birds, the calling of the insects. Most importantly, just being able to see a clean night sky with bright stars and a full moon. A picture perfect image right there," she softly answered, a small smile growing on her lips. She continued to stare at the sky, until the sound of shuffling next to her caught her attention. "Ace?" she asked, looking over and seeing him lying flat on his back.

"Lie down with me," he beckoned, patting the ground next to him.

Elena thought about it and did as he said, lowly lowering herself to lie down. "Thank you for forcing me on this trip, Mister Ace," she offered him a soft smile without taking her eyes off the stars.

"Well, this covers a portion of this camping trip," Ace said, turning his head to meet Elena's questioning gaze. "You know, talking over the campfire," he clarified with a grin.

"I guess it does," Elena affirmed and Ace could have sworn he heard her chuckle a bit. The two looked back up at the sky in complacent silence, enjoying the view and maybe the company of the other.

"Hey Ellie, can I listen to your heart?" Ace asked out of the blue, turning over to face her and using his elbow as a stand to hold him up.

Elena sighed at the use of the nickname, but looked at him nonetheless. "Why?" she inquired with a raised brow.

"Because I want to hear what it sounds like," Ace answered with a small shrug.

Elena looked at him, her lips beginning to pull into a tight line. "As long as you don't crush me under your body weight," she hesitantly replied.

Ace nodded in thanks and moved over to lay his head on her chest. He blinked once and pressed his head down a bit harder on her chest. "I can barely make it out," he told her, sitting up slightly and staring down at her.

"Remember when I said that I always stayed in my room because my father was worried?" Elan quietly asked. Ace nodded and she hesitantly continued to speak. "Well, it's because I was born with a weak and deficient heart, a congenital heart disease," she answered. Elena had never really told anyone what was wrong with her, instead letting them find out on their own without saying anything. However, talking about it with at least one person made her feel slightly less burdened.

"I never knew that a heart could be weak. The last heart I listened to was healthy and had a strong beating to it," Ace said, sitting up to his full height.

"Well, why don't you feel your own heartbeat. I'm sure someone of your stature has a strong pulse," Elena replied.

Ace smiled, though Elena could have sworn it held a tint of sadness to it. "That's because I don't have a heart. Instead, I have a clock as a replacement. It's something all inhabitants of Wonderland have," Ace informed.

Elena's eyes widened slightly at that piece of news. "What do you mean? How can you be alive without a beating heart?" she interrogated, moving to sit up straight and stare at Ace.

Ace just shrugged. "I mean that everyone in Wonderland has a clock for a heart. And I don't know," he nonchalantly answered.

"Mister Ace, how much do you know about the heart?" Elena asked.

Again, Ace just shrugged. "From what Alice told me, I know that it beats and helps Foreigners live."

Elena nodded, knowing that she shouldn't have expected much of an answer there. "Well, as a brief explanation, the heart pumps blood to the lungs to pick up oxygen, and then it pumps blood through the body to deliver that oxygen. It does more than 'help Foreigners live', it's the main organ in our body that keeps up physically alive. So how are you even breathing right now? Do you have a beating clock instead of a heart?" she gave him an incredulous look as she asked her questions.

"Nope," he denied, popping out the 'p'. "Here, why don't you listen." Ace reached over to the back of Elena's head and pressed on of her ears to his chest, not letting her go. Carefully, Elena listened and felt for this "clock". The sounds, "_Tick-tock, tick-tock,_ _tick-tock_,"resonated within Ace's chest in equally spaced intervals, but there was no movement of his chest save for his breathing. Elena quickly reached out for his wrist and placed a few fingers on the base of his throat, constantly moving them to try and find a pulse, but there was none. All Ace could do was smile at her attempts.

"But that's impossible, you can't be alive at all," Elena whispered, slowly moving away from him and staring at him, tilting her head to the side with knitted brows. "There's nothing that's moving your blood around, making the oxygen you breath in travel your body. So how are you still alive?" She moved to cross her legs, then rested her elbows on her knees while her hands folded together, her fingers forming a flat surface, then rested her chin on those fingers.

"I really don't know Ellie. But that's the fun in it right, a good mystery," Ace said with a grin.

"Yes well mysteries are meant to be solved and the process of solving them is the fun in them," Elena distractedly replied, still staring at him as if he were some sort of puzzle she was trying to solve. "Your clock is supposed to pump in order to circulate the blood, but all it does it 'tick tock' over and over again," she mumbled, though the mumble gradually turned into a low whisper the longer she spoke, "It just resonates in your chest like a typical clock, creating the same sound." Elena's eyes widened and she sat up, her eyes lighting up with recognition. "Sound," she whispered out.

"What's so important about the sound of my clock?" Ace asked with a raised brow.

Elena moved her hands so that her fingertips were touching each other, letting her two pointer fingers rest on her lip. "You see, Mister Ace, it is the pumping movement of the heart that allows the blood to flow. The sound of your clock creates vibrations and the movement of those vibrations could be whats transferring your blood all over your body. Maybe that's why I couldn't feel your pulse at all because the vibrations from the clock is just enough to transfer the blood instead to travel throughout your body," she theorized.

Ace let out a low whistle. "That's some theory you've got going there," he complimented.

"It's a theory, yes, but a theory that might work," Elena nodded, letting her arms fall and relax at her sides.

Staring at Elena for a second, Ace asked her, "Can I still listen to your heart?"

Elena thought about it for a moment. "Sure," she agreed, laying back down and allowing Ace to lie his head on top of her chest.

"You know, we should really have more talks like this over the campfire when we go out camping again," Ace happily joked, causing Elena to slightly smile.

"Yeah, that'll be nice," Elena said with a little wistfulness in her voice. "_Maybe Wonderland is not as illogical as I thought. It's just that I have to look at it from another angle to see the full picture and logic behind it all_," she thought to herself before drifting off to sleep.

* * *

**A/N - This chapter was to really serve as a way to let Elena know more about Wonderland and its inhabitants. And also as sort of an introduction of sorts to Elena's way of thinking and explaining (even though I did that with Chapter 5). Be prepared because some of the subjects she will explain will be more complicated. ****Does her theory of the clocks make sense to you? Or do you feel that it a little weak and transparent?**

**********Anyway, leave a review if there's anything wrong with this chapter or your thoughts or if you have questions, to help me out. Thank you for reading!**

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**_-AnimeAngel = Sorry about that, I was getting a little distracted when I was typing that chapter. Thank you for pointing it out so that I could fix it!_  
_-Sleeping Moon = Wow what a long response! I always love a good, analytic review that really helps me. Thank you!_

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